Healing Perfection
by squarepancake
Summary: No longer being written.
1. In Which Mike Newton is an Ass

**Disclaimer: The Twilight Saga is Stephenie Meyer' intellectual property. I am merely playing in her sandbox.**

"You must be insane Michael! There is no way this side of hell I would agree to those terms!" The exclamation echoed through the hall, warping the crystalline voice from the intended cutting hiss to a dull throb of despair.

The acquisition agent paused in the shadows and leaned against a nearby pillar. He smirked as the drama unfolded before him. When he heard the target say she was practicing her presentation in the morning, he was pleased to have the opportunity to gauge her passion and approach her alone if warranted. The last target was perfect on paper, but had quickly ended her employment with a pathetic yet spirited attempt to seduce the boss. The agent knew that whomever he brought back this time must have real passion for the work.

Real passion made his life more difficult. Few researchers wanted to leave the comfort of academia for the unsure business practices of private industry. They feared the loss of scientific independence, the misuse of their work, and the endless expectation of profitability. The promise of a hefty paycheck was sufficient in the past, but his employer had found those workers insufficient, their minds too dull to stimulate his work, their efforts more of a hindrance than a help. He had demanded that his agent bring him a real researcher this time, one devoted to the work who could work independently. By definition he wanted one whose loyalty would be impossible to simply purchase. A truly passionate scientist would be difficult to acquire. Of course, Jasper hadn't counted on Dr. Michael Newton being quite such an ass.

*

Mike smirked as Bella Swan's professional life fell to pieces around her. Restraining her sudden and intense urge to slap him, Bella simply repeated her earlier question: "why exactly would I agree to those terms? The grant award specifically stated that ninety percent of the funding would be on my project. I spent months writing that proposal, and I know exactly what was laid out to the grant committee. And now you are telling me that instead of following the proposal, Jessica's project will take precedence. Even though it should only be getting ten percent of the budget. Moreover, you've admitted that there has been no breakthrough sufficient to justify the shift, but you expect me to help produce said breakthrough."

He said nothing, simply nodding as though urging her to continue.

"I don't understand, and nodding doesn't actually answer my question. Why would I agree to this?"

"Because you don't have a choice."

"Are you really that much of an idiot, Mike? Of course I have choices. I'm a better geneticist than Jessica, if I leave the lab, there is no way you can fulfill the grant requirements. Or I can just go to the committee myself and explain how you've allocated the funding." Bella tried to control her breathing, but it was getting difficult. Red edged her vision and she took a step away from Mike to reduce the temptation to physically lash out at him.

"No Bella, you don't understand. There is no way another lab would take you now, because your name is attached to this grant: no one will fund you if leave the lab now. Even if you claim that I am abusing grant money, as long as it all stays within the lab, there's no way to prove it. And once we get a breakthrough on Jess's research, that's all the justification that I need to shift the resources."

She bit the inside of her mouth until a coppery taste warned her that she might actually injure herself over Mike Newton. "Fine then," she snapped, "I'll go to a private company. I might as well get paid if I'm going to be putting up with this sort of bullshit."

"There is no way you'll get to continue your research in a private lab. We both know that the only private lab working on reversing gene therapy is Edward Cullen's, and there is no way I'll be giving you a good recommend if Cullen Corp. calls me. Face it _Dr._ Swan, you're in my lab doing the work I assign you for the next five years. If you're lucky, you might get a chance to test some of your theories in a few years."

Bella paused to consider her options. She could go ahead and deck Mike, get arrested for assault and let the next five years pass while living in a correctional facility. While this had the benefit of physically harming Mike, the downside was that she would never see her work completed.

Alternatively, she could search for a job elsewhere. She already had her degrees, and a post-doctoral fellowship wasn't necessarily her only option. Mike was right; another university wouldn't touch her with her name attached to Mike's lab and grant. Bella knew that Cullen Corp. probably wouldn't hire her without glowing recommendations, but some pharmaceutical companies had been sending her e-mails. Granted, most of those were actually just spam advising her that she could enlarge her non-existent penis, but tucked within the trash were a few real job offers at medical research facilities. Her expertise was sufficient that she might even be able to get a small budget for personal research.

Finally, she could continue to work in Mike's lab, watch Jessica muddle through science too difficult for her, and hijack the needed resources to continue her research. Jessica needed help with the basic aspects of research and Mike spent too much time surrounded by formaldehyde fumes to notice if resources were directed towards Bella's research instead of Jessica's. Hell, if she played this right, it might not even delay her work that much. Just as she decided on this plan of action, Mike set her on the first two paths.

"You know Bella," Mike's hoarse whisper echoed through the room, "there are other options."

Uncertainly, Bella quirked an eyebrow and folded her arms across her chest. Mike's eyes immediately focused on her now plumped cleavage.

Drawing a finger along her forearm, Mike licked his lips. "Of course, if you offered me what Jessica gives me, I could reconsider the funding," as he spoke, he raised his fingers, finally reaching for the collar of Bella's v-neck sweater.

Bella quickly slapped his hand away. "Don't touch me Newton."

"Aw, come on Bella, I know that beneath that cold exterior you have some passion," smirked Mike as he reached for her breasts.

This time Bella simply caught his wrist. "Yes, I do, but there is no chance in hell you're going to excite that passion." Mike futilely attempted to jerk his hand out of Bella's grasp. Bracing herself, she wondered idly how long it would take for him to realize that his flabby arms lacked the strength to break her grip. Perspiration slicked the skin beneath her hand, and Bella made a mental note to use plenty of hand sanitizer after this.

Bella suddenly pushed Mike's hand towards his body briefly and then jerked him forward, catching Mike off balance while stepping to the side. Still firmly gripping his wrist, Bella watched dispassionately as he stumbled to his knees, his arm painfully twisting to the side and behind him.

Pushing his wrist into the small of his back, Bella leaned over his shoulder. "Listen to me, _Dr._ Newton," she hissed in his ear, "you do not touch me without my express invitation, which will never occur. I am leaving your lab, I am taking my research and my expertise, and I am not going to allow you to ruin my career. You better call Jessica now, because there is no way in hell I'll be giving the presentation for a lab I don't work for."

Mike struggled against her grasp, clawing ineffectually at the ground with his free hand while moaning "you bitch, I can't believe-" his rant was interpreted with a gasp of pain as Bella jerked his captured wrist further up his back and stood up, grinding the bone into his arm socket.

"I have the leverage to break your wrist. Don't push me. If you get a call from someone looking to hire me, you will tell them the truth." Her voice gained volume as Bella snarled, "and the truth is that I am ten times the scientist you are. I am the best fucking geneticist you've ever worked with. You've completely screwed yourself Michael, because no one else will get the grant work done, and you'll never have research funding again."

Grimly satisfied, Bella pushed him forward, watching as Mike barely caught himself instead of face-planting into the ornate carpet.

*

While paying absent-minded attention to the argument between the scientists, Jasper perused his dossier on Dr. Swan. After a year of home-schooling, she had returned to Desert Vista High School in Phoenix and graduated at the age of sixteen. With summer courses and an unusually heavy course-load, she graduated from Berkeley in two years with joint degrees in chemical engineering and integrative biology. At the age of eighteen, Bella Swan graduated Summa Cum Laude and immediately entered the MD-PhD program at Harvard University.

Jasper rubbed his hands through his hair. She must have impressed someone, because he knew that the program was obscenely competitive, especially with her being so young. Her eight-year stay at Harvard ended last year with Dr. Swan's medical degree and PhD in immunology. It also ended with Bella Swan's name attached to more published articles than most tenured professors.

As he scanned the list of publications again, Jasper was gratified with the continual theme of gene therapy: Dr. Swan had made no pretenses about her interests. For the past year she had worked as a post-doctoral fellow in Michael Newton's laboratory at the University of Washington, recently receiving a very large grant for studying how to reverse the effects of gene therapy.

The one piece missing from the file was a photo. Although most labs created webpages replete with photos of all the students and researchers, Dr. Swan was curiously absent. Closing the folder, Jasper resolved to get a closer look at the target.

He glanced up right in time to see Mike reaching for Dr. Swan's chest. Before Jasper could interrupt, she intercepted and redirected Mike's hands. Jasper watched, curious to see just how well Dr. Swan could defend herself physically after already holding her own verbally. To his astonishment, Mike was sprawled across the carpet a short time later.

Leveraging himself up with his left arm, Mike stuttered "you, you can't just leave the lab Bella. We need you. Gene therapy is all you care about, and you won't find a lab working on it in the private sector."

Jasper took the opening. "Actually Dr. Swan, my name is Jasper Whitlock, and I was hoping to talk with you about that."

*

Jasper carefully stirred his too full coffee cup as he tried to unobtrusively eye Dr. Swan, or Bella as she had immediately corrected him. The light in the hotel café was poor, but enough to illuminate the woman sitting across the table from him. In spite of her best attempts to hide her attributes, Bella was a stunningly attractive woman. Her thick-rimmed glasses failed to dull her dark brown eyes, and the severe bun that trapped her hair only emphasized the long line of her neck. Curiously though, Jasper could tell that she was wearing makeup that was the wrong shade for her skin. Rather than complementing her complexion, it created a sallow pallor on her pale face, but failed to obscure her attractive features or plump lips.

Combined with the unflattering clothing, Jasper was certain that Bella's clothing and makeup were intentional camouflage. After observing Mike Newton in action, Jasper concluded that Bella was even more intelligent than her resume indicated. Focusing on her lips, Jasper began to wonder just what else Bella was camouflaging under outwardly cold appearance. Those lips for instance looked as though they could do well wrapped around…

Lost in thought, Bella's quiet cough took him by surprise. Jerking his eyes up from her slightly frowning mouth, he was quickly caught in her gaze. At some point during his daydreaming, Bella had removed her glasses. As Jasper watched, the brown eyes became flecked with gold, and a sudden pain arced behind his forehead.

Breaking the intense eye-contact, Jasper closed his eyes and gently massaged his temples, trying to ease the unexpected headache. After a moment, he opened his eyes to meet Bella's quietly assessing gaze. After a moment she nodded absently and smiled gently at him.

Jasper returned the smile with a friendly grin, "I'm sorry Bella, I was lost in thought. As I was saying in the conference room, I was sent here to assess you and possibly offer you a position with our company. You're exactly the kind of passionate, devoted researcher we're looking for." As he spoke, Jasper again wondered why there were no photos of Bella, she wasn't his type, but was pretty enough, he supposed. The more he thought about it, the more she reminded him of his sister, lovely, but not interesting to him. Already the headache was fading.

"I'm sorry Jasper, I was so worked up over Mike's behavior that I didn't catch who you work for. I can also assure you that I do not condone physical violence, I was merely-"

"Defending yourself. I saw Bella, don't worry about that. I was impressed with your moves actually." Jasper reassured her.

"Yes, well, studying aikido since I turned sixteen has helped with my self-defense prowess."

"Aikido, huh? Martial arts for your sweet sixteen?"

"Well until I was sixteen I was an unbearable klutz. When my balance improved, I decided to celebrate by learning a new sport. Unfortunately my father insisted I learn a martial art."

Jasper jotted a quick note on Bella's file to check for a history of familial abuse or violence. "Your father wanted you to learn a martial art? That's an odd request for a teenaged girl."

Bella smirked, "but not an odd request for an over-protective police-chief father."

"Yes, I could see how that might be true." Perhaps that deeper background check would be unnecessary. "Anyway, to answer your question, I'm the main recruiter for Cullen Corp." Jasper grinned at Bella's sudden gasp. "If you don't mind, could we start on some standard interview questions? They are a bit of a formality, but one of the responsibilities of the position would be to attend conferences on behalf Dr. Cullen, so I want to get a good sense for your communication style."

"Oh that's right, he doesn't make public appearances, does he?"

"Not since he was a teenager and started juggling business and research, he just doesn't have the patience for them." Jasper waved his hands dismissively at this, as though being a recluse was merely a minor character trait. "Anyway, for questions, let's start with the basics, what are you working on right now?"

"What type of background do you have," Bella asked, "because I don't want to repeat information that's old news to you or just dive in the deep end and expect you to swim with me."

"Assume that I'm a total neophyte."

"Okay then. My main area of interest is gene therapy. Essentially, some people are born with genetic diseases that are hard to treat. Sickle cell anemia, hemophilia, cystic fibrosis, and so on. People with these diseases are lacking a correctly functioning gene. So gene therapy uses a virus to insert a functional gene into a cell's DNA to cure the disease." She paused to sip coffee, and Jasper whistled.

"So you can cure these diseases after birth?"

"Exactly. There are some problems though. Gene insertion isn't an exact science, and there usually needs to be a long series of gene therapy until it 'takes.' Not to mention the immune response to the viruses we use, and the possibility of viral mutation. In some cases it can cause cancer as well."

"So is that why you want to study how to reverse gene therapy?"

Bella paused and began drumming her fingers on the table. "Not exactly. Those complications are all risks that someone who has a genetic disorder may be willing to take. I want to study reversing gene therapy because of the future."

"The future?"

"Jasper, if I told you that I could create a virus that would change your DNA, make you smarter, stronger, faster, would you be tempted to use it?" The drumming stopped as Bella waited for the answer.

"Well sure, who wouldn't be tempted?"

"So you'd allow me to change your genetic makeup, the essence of who you are, for the promise of subjective improvements?" Bella laced her fingers together, biting her lip as she waited for his answer.

"Well when you put it like that, it seems a bit less clear-cut," Jasper conceded.

"In the future, people will make the choice to use gene therapy that way. They will choose to change themselves, change each other, and try to achieve perfection. I just want us to have the ability to reverse that process. I want people to be able to heal from a choice like that."

"So you want to heal perfection?"

"That's exactly what I want," Bella confirmed. In a whisper that Jasper wasn't sure he was meant to hear, she added "that's what I promised."

Clearing his throat to ease the sudden tension, Jasper picked the dossier back up to continue the interview. "Your resume is impressive as I'm sure you know, and it's clear that you are passionate about gene therapy research. I'm in the position to offer you a job that gives you more freedom to pursue this interest, and the resources that a research university simply cannot provide."

"Exactly how much freedom are we talking about, Jasper? I have a fairly set research plan, but would I need approval to change it? What about lab hours? I like to work late into the night, would that be possible within the Cullen Corp. facilities?"

"Well to break it down in order, seventy-five percent of your research time is yours to work on whatever you want, though if you change from your goal of reversing gene therapy treatments, you need to let someone know."

"That will never happen," Bella interjected. Jasper was slightly taken aback by the steely glint in her eyes.

"Right, like I said, seventy-five percent on your own research, and twenty-five percent collaborating with Dr. Cullen on his work. Are you familiar with his work, Bella?" Jasper was amused to see the eye-roll at the final question.

"Jasper, everyone in the field is familiar with Dr. E.A. Cullen's work. Even if he never shows his face at a conference, his papers are groundbreaking. I'm certain I've read all of his publications. Even the chance to work in the same lab would be thrilling." At the end of this, Bella bit down on her lip, as though to stop gushing.

Chuckling, Jasper continued, "well I don't know the details myself, ma'am, but if you say so. I know that you're both researching the long-term effects of gene therapy and reversal processes, but I don't know the specifics. So twenty-five percent of your time would still be working in your chosen expertise, just under Dr. Cullen's direction." Jasper wondered briefly if he should elaborate on the difficulty of working with Edward, but decided against it. Bella's fight with Mike was a windfall, there was no reason to push her away from accepting employment at the Cullen lab.

"That seems reasonable, certainly more than I would get elsewhere," Bella conceded.

"As for lab hours, well that's more complicated."

"Complicated how? Most labs have keycards for the night owls they employ."

"Well right, but the lab you would be working at wouldn't be at the main Cullen Corp. facility in Seattle."

"So I would need to relocate? That's not a problem, I've only been in Seattle for a year, my ties aren't that deep." Bella flicked her wrist as though swatting away her ties to the city.

"Well, the lab itself is in Forks, Washington."

"I've never heard of it."

"Most people haven't. It's a small town about four hours drive west of Seattle. It's where Dr. Cullen keeps his personal lab."

"How hard is it going to be to find a place to live out there? And that still doesn't explain the 'complicated' lab hours."

"Well, Dr. Cullen's lab is a branch of his private home, so if you live off the estate, access is tricky. As the CEO of a major company, security is very tight there." Jasper wondered if Bella had caught the implications of his statement. Her next question confirmed that she had.

"What do you mean _if_ I live off the estate? I'm not going to just move into someone's house Jasper," Bella huffed.

"It's not really a house," Jasper reassured her quickly, "my wife, Alice, and I live there too. There's a lot of privacy, and it would give you constant access to the labs. You'd have your own suite, and room and board would be part of your salary." Jasper really hoped that this would not be a deal-breaker. Edward liked having direct supervision over his employees, and Bella living in town would make her too much of a target for the gossip-hungry locals.

"Can I see the place before I commit? I would like to get a feel for the house before I agree to live there. Everything else sounds fine. If you have a copy of the contract for me, I can look it over and discuss it with you tomorrow?"

"Actually that would be perfect. We can go to Forks tomorrow and you can meet with Dr. Cullen in person. It's a long drive though, do you mind starting at seven in the morning? We can meet in the hotel lobby since I'm staying here. Oh, what about an overnight visit so you really get a sense for the facilities?" Jasper really hoped that she would agree to an overnight visit. He was desperately missing his wife, and the sudden headache earlier had tired him. Eight hours in the car, even with the delightful Bella, would not be fun.

"That's logical. And since I quit Mike's lab, I certainly have the time," laughed Bella. She rose from her seat and began gathering her belongings. "Thank you for the coffee and the chat. Honestly, I don't think there are circumstances under which I would pass on this offer. Cullen Corp. has the resources that I simply won't find anywhere else. I'll see you in the morning."

As she moved past him, Jasper grabbed her wrist. "Don't forget these," he grinned, shoving some papers at her. As he released her arm, he suppressed a shudder. Her skin was oddly cool to the touch. She must have incredibly poor circulation, he thought idly.

"Of course not. Thank you Jasper. I will see you bright and early tomorrow."

Watching her leave the café, Jasper mused that he really earned his salary this time. If not for his obsessive need to screen potential employees after the Lauren fiasco, he would never have had the chance to swing in and steal her away from Mike the asshole. Edward would be pleased with this acquisition.


	2. Tiger, Tiger, Burning Bright

**Disclaimer: The Twilight Saga is Stephenie Meyer's intellectual property. I am merely playing in her sandbox.**

The routine never varied. From the hours of 1:00pm until 3:00pm no other person was allowed in his wing of the house. Edward Cullen reveled in the silence. As soon as all the noises faded, he retreated to the topmost room, stripped, and, suspended amidst glass and air, he sought to tame the demons of his past and remember.

The air always seemed cooler in here than in the rest of the house, no matter how often he adjusted the temperature. Usually Edward blamed the large windows, but sometimes he wondered if the darkness of his memories had seeped into the very room.

He had learned dozens of meditation techniques over the years, and tried to use all of them in his quest to calm his mind. In spite of his best intentions, he found himself always returning to the simple breathing techniques taught to him by a dying girl in a sterile hospital room over a decade ago. So few of his memories lingered now. He could not remember her face, but he could still hear her breathy whispers, muffled slightly by the constant hum of the oxygen tank.

With each cleansing breath he tried to let go of the anger that curled in the corners of his mind.

Anger for his weakness.

Anger for his strength.

Anger for everything that had been done to him, and what he had become in response.

_Close your eyes. Relax. Breathe in on a count of seven. Breathe out on a count of seven. Listen to your heartbeat. Let the sound fill your ears. Feel your pulse. Let the feeling engulf you. Imagine a lake in front of you. The surface is rippling with your emotions._

Over the years, the size of the lake had increased, until it filled Edward's mind entirely. He could see only the turbulent water and the sky it reflected. Like most days, the lake today was tossing with an unfelt wind, white caps topping waves that would drown anyone foolish enough to venture into the water.

_  
Breathe in. Breathe out. Let go of the anger. Let go of the hate. Don't let them define you._ Her voice wrapped around him, muffling the rage that used to consume him and still flickered into life when he dwelled on his fractured memories.

With a sigh, Edward felt the outermost layer of his shell fall away, and he sank deeper into his own mind. The surface of the lake smoothed, still rippling with his anxieties and grief, but free from the turbulent waves of hatred.

Most nights all Edward gained from the exercise was a modicum of calm that carried him through the hours around other people. The noise was unbearable most of the day, but his work came at a cost: there was no way to complete it in the absolute isolation he craved. A minimal staff was the best he could do. His friends and family rarely saw him in person lately, even when they lived in the same house. At the thought of Alice's last pleading e-mail, Edward refocused on the exercise.

_Let go of the outside world and their expectations. Let go of anything but yourself. Do not react, just be. Just be. Focus on your breathing. Focus on your heartbeat. Feel how your body is, not how it is different. The lake is your sanctuary. Feel the serenity of the water washing over you. Accept your emotions, don't drown in them._

Edward's breathing slowed until his chest barely moved. His heart rate slowed, and he tried to let the rhythm of his body further relax his mind. As he released the tension, a darkness unfurled from the depths of the lake, immediately swamping him.

*

"_It hurts," he whimpered._

"_Calm down Cullen, perfection has a cost. The pain will pass." The sweet comfort of her voice was gone, only the unseen man's harsh staccato remained._

_White heat flared behind his eyes and a thousand spidery whispers began crawling through his ears. "I'm burning! Please help!" his shrieks echoed and mingled with a high-pitched sing-song voice._

"_Tiger, tiger, burning bright_

_In the forests of the night,_

_What immortal hand or eye_

_Dare frame thy…"_

_The burning flared with each word of the rhyme, until the heat began to fuse his thoughts together into the repetition of a single phrase._

_What the hand dare seize the fire?_

_What the hand dare seize the fire?_

_What the hand dare seize the fire?_

Edward lost himself in the memory of the burning pain when a cool hand began to stroke his forehead. For the first time in over a decade, he remembered the comfort of her touch.

The ghost's voice whispered in his mind again. _Let go of the pain. Let it pass through you and see beyond it. See what else the lake protects._

A face flashed before his eyes. Skin sickly pale, brown eyes sunken into an emaciated face. Dry lips and an oxygen tube. He could see his own familiar hand outstretched towards the girl's cheek when a shrill ringing noise pulled him away.

*

Gasping, covered in sweat, Edward ignored the ringing and frantically tried to hold onto the wisps of memory he had uncovered. Only bits and pieces remained, the rest evaporating like mist before the sun. He was not in a good mood when he recovered enough to realize that it was his phone disrupting his session. It was automatically set to go silent during his mediation period, and it upset him that his programming had failed.

Stalking across the room, he pulled a leather bound journal from the bookshelf. Entering the date, he carefully wrote down everything he remembered. The ritual itself soothed him enough that he allowed himself to consider what he wrote.

**Beyond the lake.**

**Physical pain- sensation of burning.**

**A man's voice. Cost of perfection?**

**A different voice- Tiger, fire, hand. Poem?**

**Brown eyes.**

Only fragments, but the newfound knowledge buoyed his spirits: buried beneath the physical and emotional pain, he was finally certain the memories remained. He could recover them.

Setting aside the journal, Edward picked up his phone. "Cullen speaking," he rasped.

"I have good news and bad news."

"Jasper, why are you calling? Is the conference that critical? You know I don't answer calls between 1:00 and 3:00," griped Edward as he absently began to redress.

"Well Edward, since it's 5:30 in the evening, I didn't think there would be a problem with your memory date. The conference has been scintillating. Absolutely scintillating." Edward rolled his eyes at Jasper's sarcasm. "I just love being surrounded by people with advanced degrees condescending to anyone without a PhD. And like I said, I have good news and bad news. Which do you want first?"

"Bad news then," sighed Edward as he checked the phone's clock. Christ, he never managed to stay in the right mind frame for more than two hours. _How long would I have stayed under if Jasper hadn't called?_ He mused. He didn't have enough free time in his schedule to spend more time meditating, but he didn't care for the phone abruptly ending his session either. Maybe he'd ask one of the security members to knock after two hours in case he was lost in a trance again rather than deal with the harshness of the phone's ringtone.

"…so you see, Dr. Newton's is trying to get out of their grant proposal. Frankly I don't think his lab is even going to be qualified to do the grant work," only the last bit of Jasper's monologue caught Edward's attention.

"What? We spent months deciding who to fund and setting up the shell organizations. Why would he be trying to get out of the grant proposal anyway?" Edward pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to remember the details of that particular proposal. He remembered being very impressed with some of the ideas.

"Clearly you're not listening. Michael Newton is an ass. He's trying to cater to another researcher he's apparently sleeping with. She focuses on in utero gene therapy."

"I don't care about in utero gene therapy," growled Edward in frustration. "Granted, if a fetus has a genetic disorder, a cure would be nice, but that's not what I'm spending money on. Suggestions?"

Silence.

"Can you revoke the grant?" Jasper asked finally.

"Not easily, no. The university will make a huge fuss about the grant being rescinded, especially since the research hasn't started yet, so we can't prove malfeasance," sighed Edward, tugging at his hair while he thought. "Who did we put in charge of that grant organization, anyway?"

"One sec, let me check. You know, it's a huge hassle to have to go through third parties to fund this research."

"I know Jasper, but when we first tried sponsoring labs, everyone thought we were trying to buy off the research for commercial use. Not to mention the _other_ attention it attracts. It's not too much work to put loyal people in place at non-profits that Cullen Corp. funds anyway. Just find out who's in charge of this grant please."

Edward paced while he waited. A researcher taking funds and directing it somewhere else wasn't unheard of, but he was furious. He needed as many people as possible working on reversing gene therapy.

"Oh, I got it Edward, looks like Carmen is in charge."

"Good, she's sensible and she knows what we're looking for. Tell her everything you told me, and we'll see what she suggests for monitoring the lab. In the meantime, you said you had good news? I need some. I hate micromanaging other people's work."

"I have a researcher for you."

"Already? Are you sure they are what I'm looking for? I don't want another Lauren situation." His voice dripped annoyance by the end.

"No, it's one of your top picks," crowed Jasper gleefully.

"Seriously? Only one week into the search and you got a real researcher to leave academia? Maybe my list was wrong- I could have picked someone who wasn't truly passionate, how do you know they're not after money in the private sector?" Edward tried not to be too hopeful. He knew needed someone to bounce ideas off of, but after past disappointments, he was unwilling to accept anyone but the top of the field.

"Remember how I just said Newton was an ass?"

"Yes. Oh god, I didn't put him on the list, did I? Certainly not near the top. He picks fabulous researchers, but he has no originality in his thoughts at all." Edward tugged at his hair again, trying to curb his agitation at the thought of Michael Newton wandering through his home. Though they had only met once, Edward had developed a deep and abiding animosity to the other man's physical proximity.

"No, of course he wasn't on the list. But one of his post-doctorate fellows was. Dr. Isabella Swan, recent graduate of the Harvard MD-PhD program. According to the notes, you apparently liked her work in something called the 'Beissman barrier.'"

"Weissman barrier," Edward corrected absently, trying to recall the paper in question.

"Right, whatever, you don't pay me to know the science. You liked her work, she was one of your top choices, and I watched her tell Newton that she wasn't going to give up her field of research on his say-so. Then I had the pleasure of watching her hand him his ass when he tried to proposition her," Jasper laughed, clearly eager to list Dr. Swan's positive attributes.

"Fine, fine, she's a badass, that hardly matters to me. Unlike Newton I know what matters in the lab. Is her mind organized? I need someone who won't bog me down with their disorganized thoughts," grumbled Edward.

"No matter how many times we have this discussion, you never learn Edward. I have no idea how to judge that! She seems organized when she speaks. She's written plenty of papers. She's disciplined and intelligent and passionately interested in being able to reverse gene therapy."

"Good enough. I assume you went ahead and offered her the position?"

"Yes, we're coming by the labs tomorrow. She has some reservations, so I want her to know what to expect if she lives in the house…" Jasper's voice sped up, trying to camouflage his slip.

Edward immediately interrupted. "_If?_ What do you mean if? Employees live here," he insisted. "I don't need anyone spreading gossip around town about the mysterious and reclusive Edward Cullen. That only leads to more teenagers trying to scale the fences and triggering security alarms."

Jasper sighed audibly, "look, I know that Edward. Once she sees that she'll still have privacy and freedom, I'm sure she'll come around. She wants constant access to the lab anyway. That more than your paranoia will convince her to live on the estate."

Edward huffed in exasperation, but was pleased with the idea that Dr. Swan wanted to have constant lab access. It was a good omen.

"Okay Jasper, bring her tomorrow, I'll be here, and I'd like to meet her."

"Of course you'll be there Edward. You're always there."

Edward sighed, "I know, I don't need to be reminded of that though. Good work Jasper. Thank you."

Grimacing on the feel of his now sweat-soaked clothing, Edward ended the call and headed out of the room, intent on reviewing the scraps of memory he had exposed.

*

Bella woke up in the bathtub again. It wasn't a common occurrence, but had happened frequently enough that the disorientation lasted only a minute or so before she recognized where she was. As always, after waking she checked the door to her bedroom.

This time three of the five locks were broken. Again. She sighed. She wasn't quite certain why she broke the locks on the nights that she woke up in the bathtub, but she was glad that her apparent sleep-walking still left her rested.

After her success with Jasper yesterday, she was comfortable enough to pick out a well-fitted skirt-suit for her trip to Cullen Corp. The outfit would have invited obnoxious leers from Newton and the occasional attempt to brush against her. Bella grinned at the knowledge that she would never need to answer to him again. She had removed all potential sources of leverage he might use to lure her back.

As soon as her meeting with Jasper had finished, she had driven over to the lab to retrieve her notes. She left the active experiment logs in place, hopeful that Jessica might actually accomplish something by finishing them, but there was no way in hell that Bella would leave her work there to be scavenged by Newton. While she was there, she erased her computer files and removed her scattered personal effects.

Carrying out a box filled with books, a lab coat, a coffee mug, a nerf gun, a portable hard-drive and a few rolled up posters effectively erased Bella Swan from Dr. Newton's laboratory.

Now an entire shelf of her bookcase neatly housed lab books. Some outlined future research angles, while others chronicled her experiments with gene therapy. Bella hoped that Jasper was right, and that the resources at Cullen Corp. would allow her to pursue her research. The contract was promising, but Bella had long since given up on mere legalities to curb other people's bad behavior.

With that in mind, Bella donned her suit, braided her hair, and reminded herself that a professional appearance was a type of armor. Confidence in her appearance translated to confidence in her demeanor. Bella repeated this as a mantra in her mind. She chose her clothing as one part of a costume, projecting who she needed to be before anyone else could label her. Bella couldn't remember who had first passed on this bit of wisdom, but it had served her well since she turned sixteen.

The brief walk to the conference hotel reminded her that she hated high-heels, even those that successfully increased her confidence. Jasper found her seated in the lobby, right foot resting on her left knee as she rubbed the arch of her foot, the black pump hanging precariously from her toes.

"Are you okay Bella?" Jasper's quiet voice soothed Bella's anxiety about the coming drive.

"Oh, yes, I'm fine Jasper, it's just been so long since I've worn heels that I forgot how uncomfortable they can be."

"Don't let my wife hear you say that!"

"What, that high-heels are uncomfortable? Jasper, I don't know your wife, but no matter how fierce she is, I'll defend that statement to my death."

Jasper laughed, "no, the part where you admit that you don't normally wear heels. Forks doesn't have too much to offer in the way of a social life, so Alice spends a lot of time researching fashion. A few months back I was treated to a lengthy lecture on how high-heels flatter the female form."

Bella noticed the sudden blush blooming on Jasper's cheeks.

"Jasper Witlock, are you blushing?" Bella teased.

"Alice may have included visual aids in the lecture," he muttered, and then immediately shook his head, as though wondering why on earth he would admit that.

Bella laughed in delight. "Okay, I will spare myself that lecture by not mentioning my aversion to high-heels in front of Alice. That said, are we ready to hit the road?"

Jasper grinned, and beckoned her to follow him out to the hotel's parking garage. Bella was slightly dumbfounded at the car Jasper led her to.

"A Volvo?" Bella asked as she settled herself in the passenger's seat, depositing her overnight bag on the seat behind her.

"What's wrong with Volvos?"

"Nothing, you just seem... young to drive a Volvo."

"It's a very safe car," defended Jasper after double-checking the mirrors.

"Exactly."

"Don't be a car-ist."

"A what?"

"A car-ist. It's like a racist, only with cars."

"You're kidding, right?"

"No, it's a very serious topic. Judging people on their cars is just wrong. You should judge them on their driving skills," Jasper grinned over at Bella as he floored the accelerator. "And there is nothing elderly about my driving."

The drive to Forks passed swiftly, Jasper and Bella easily maintaining conversation as he drove. After a casual discussion about the hiking opportunities surrounding Forks, Jasper decided to revisit a topic from their previous meeting.

"So, you're not much of a hiker, but you do aikido, right?"

Jasper's attempt at a casual tone poorly hid his curiosity. "Yes, I have for years, like I mentioned yesterday, and as Mike helped me demonstrate," Bella smirked at the image of Newton on the floor.

"Right, you said your father got you interested in it? Was this during your homeschooling?"

Bella's smile faded. "You know I was home-schooled?"

"Well yes, your high school transcripts reflect that. One year of home-schooling, and then you spent one year after that in high school before you graduated. And you mentioned that you started aikido when you were sixteen. Isn't that when you graduated?"

"Right, yes, I graduated when I was sixteen. I just didn't realize that my transcripts would have that information about being home-schooled," Bella bit her lip in agitation. Graduating high school and college early tended to keep people from asking questions about her year outside of the public education system, but Jasper's questions seemed harmless enough.

"So to answer your question, no it started after my home-schooling. My birthday is in September, so I was already in my senior year when I turned sixteen and started learning aikido."

"So, what prompted it," Jasper persisted.

Bella sighed. She hated this story, but she had a feeling that Jasper wouldn't be dropping this line of questions.

"Well, during that year of home-schooling, pretty much all of us went through some of the uglier stages of puberty. Apparently the knowledge that I had missed witnessing their more embarrassing moments made me an attractive prospect for the boys at high school." Bella sighed. She knew that her year away from school did wonders for her physical appearance as well, but she didn't want to dwell on the obnoxiously clichéd ugly duckling to beautiful swan story, especially with the circumstances surrounding her own transformation.

"So boys started liking you?" Jasper's tone was still jovial. "I bet your, how did you say it, 'over-protective police-chief father' loved that."

"Oh he was thrilled," laughed Bella. "The final straw was when I got into a fight though."

"What?"

"Well fight is exaggerating. If I had simply slapped him instead of punching him, my dad wouldn't have known," Bella grimaced at the memory.

"I don't follow."

"So this senior football player tried to cop a feel while we were waiting in the cafeteria line. I had turned him down for a date, so apparently I was playing hard to get," Bella rolled her eyes, "so he thought he would show me what I was missing."

"And what were you missing?"

"The lesson about how to make a fist." Jasper howled with laughter as Bella continued. "He grabbed me, and I turned and punched him as hard as I could in the face, which was quite a reach for me, since he was nearly a foot taller than I am. Well, I had my fingers wrapped around my thumb to form a fist." Bella held up her hand to illustrate her ineptitude. "So I broke his nose, but also my thumb. After that, Charlie thought I should get some training."

Jasper was laughing so hard he was hiccupping with every other breath. "So you punched a football player in the face for getting fresh with you, broke his nose, and your dad wanted to make sure you could do more damage?"

"Exactly! Or at least damage without hurting myself as well," agreed Bella happily. "Anyway, after some training, I found that I really enjoyed aikido, so I've tried to keep in practice. I train mostly on my own these days though, which I'm sure has hurt my skills. What can you do, though? My hours are too crazy for a normal aikido school, and I somehow doubt Forks has anything to offer in the way of martial arts."

"No, Forks really doesn't, but you may find a workout partner among the security personal at the estate. At the very least, there is an excellent exercise studio close to the labs. Edward likes having a physical outlet if he gets frustrated in his work."

"What's he like?" Bella voiced her growing curiosity. "You've mentioned him a few times, but his work hardly gives much insight into his personality."

"Edward is… well, he's brilliant. Anti-social. Obsessive. Taciturn. Honestly, if he says five words to you today, you'll be doing well. He's not very good with new people."

"I'll be meeting him today?" asked Bella nervously. The picture Jasper painted was not especially appealing.

"Yes, but don't worry. Think of him as being shy. He wants you there, he desperately needs someone else to bounce ideas off of, but it will take him a bit to warm up to you. Until then, you'll have plenty of your own research to keep you busy, right?"

Bella fiddled with the end of her braid. "Yes, I'm sure I will be kept busy. It's just his work has been so influential, I'd love the chance to ask him about everything, you know?"

Hesitantly, Jasper reached over and patted her on the shoulder. "Maybe he'll be in an agreeable mood today; I just don't want you to take anything he does as a personal affront."

Bella was grateful for the warning by the end of the day.

*

After more anecdotes about their educations, Bella and Jasper settled into a quiet discussion of historical novels for the final hour of the car-ride. Jasper's knack for easy conversation impressed Bella, and she found herself more engaged in the conversation than she expected. She was so engrossed that Jasper's sudden turn onto a small road through the forest took her off-guard.

As the road wound through the woods, the conversation died. The walls of green surrounding the car entranced Bella, and Jasper was happy to let her enjoy the view. He grinned at her gasp when the final turn revealed the Cullen Corp. estate.

The fence surrounding the property barely obscured the enormous mansion. Bella listened with half an ear as Jasper confirmed her identity with the guard before pulling into the circular driveway in front of the house. Motioning for her to leave her bag in the car, Jasper led her to the front door. As he reached for the doorknob, it swung backwards.

Bella gaped at the man standing in front of her. His eyes were narrowed into a glare, obscuring the color. But the rest of his appearance struck her as impossibly attractive. A shock of reddish-brown hair crowned a lean, muscular six-foot frame. Pleasurable tingles ran up her spine as she observed the man in front of her. The intensity of his glare ended them.

Nervously, Bella checked her skirt, not quite meeting his eye. Assured that her appearance didn't merit the man's disapproval, Bella squared her shoulders and lifted her chin. When she met his gaze, his eyes widened briefly as though in shock, revealing their green hue. Immediately a scowl distorted his chiseled features, and he spun on his heel, stalking away from the open door.

Jasper sighed.

"Well, that could have been worse, somehow."

"Jasper, who was that?" Bella was still reeling from his abrupt departure. He had seemed to be glaring straight through her, right up until his angry exit.

"That was Edward."

*

Author's note

Thank you to Katmom for being amazingly supportive and Ori1 for being my very first review. ChrisRW, Pixiekat7 and Master of the Boot, thank you for your reviews, and I hope this chapter continues to interest you. I am going to be trying for a weekly updating schedule, though I'm already behind on that goal. Reviews are always welcome.


	3. Strange, Delightful Woman

**Disclaimer: The Twilight Saga is the intellectual Property of Stephenie Meyer. I am merely playing in her sandbox.**

*

Jasper shook his head once and then glanced sidelong at Bella. Her shocked face confirmed that Edward's behavior needed some sort of explanation, regardless of Jasper's previous warning. Frankly, Jasper wanted an explanation himself: Edward's reaction was beyond anything Jasper had seen before. Edward had acted personally offended by Bella's presence, not simply upset at a stranger entering his domain.

Jasper cleared his throat while Bella rearranged her expression to one of neutrality. "So yeah, please don't take that personally. Edward has difficulty with new people, it's nothing you did. Honestly, he probably forgot someone new was coming today, so the surprise made his reaction worse." Jasper knew the latter point was a lie. There was no way Edward forgot about Dr. Swan's visit.

"So you've seen him do that before? Just stalk off without a greeting?" Bella followed Jasper through the door, her neutral mask providing no insight into whether the interior of the mansion impressed her as much as her first glimpse had.

"Well, not specifically, no, but like I said, Edward is…eccentric." Jasper really hoped everything else Bella saw today sufficiently overwhelmed Edward's coldness. Bringing her here and then watching her turn down the job would aggravate Edward even more.

Bella shook her head as though to clear the lingering memories of Edward. "Right, so what next now that the lord of the manor has observed the intruder?" Bella raised an eyebrow sardonically.

Jasper laughed, pleased that Bella was already shrugging off Edward's reaction. While he laughed, he watched Bella relax and begin to take in her surroundings. A large marble staircase dominated the entrance hall, with hallways opening perpendicularly to the front doors. The walls were painted a rich green, matching the main color in a large oriental rug at the foot of the stairs. Wall niches housed small sculptures of various materials. Bella turned her head, pausing when her glance fell on particularly lovely pieces.

Jasper watched as she walked over to admire an ornate silver statue. A woman was depicted running from an unseen chaser. The artist caught her in a moment of transformation, with one foot planted on the ground, her splayed limbs beginning to transform into branches, her hair streaked with leaves, her face contorted in a mixture of ecstasy and fear. The small plaque below the niche read:

_Daphne's Escape and Imprisonment_

After Bella stood absorbed in the sculpture for several minutes, Jasper decided to interrupt her reverie. "How do you feel about meeting Alice?"

Startled, Bella looked up, "your wife?"

"Yup," Jasper confirmed with a fond smile. "She'll be able to show you around and explain the research facilities. We have about an hour before lunch."

"Will Dr. Cullen be at lunch?" Bella asked hesitantly.

"Yes. He's a creature of habit, and he nearly always eats lunch alone unless his work goes until 1:00 pm. However, today it will be the four of us: you, me, Edward and Alice." He purposefully kept his voice upbeat to try and offset Edward's coldness while simultaneously hoping that Edward would be able to manage a lunch with both a new person and Alice.

"What happens at 1:00 pm?"

"Oh, well, Edward has a very well-structured schedule. He always blocks off 1:00 pm until 3:00 pm to take care of personal matters. It's nothing to worry about." Jasper hoped his voice didn't reveal any trepidation about Edward's personal time. He wasn't exactly certain what Edward did during those hours. But the last time Edward had been caught up in an experiment and had missed his retreat to his wing of the house resulted in Edward reducing a lab assistant to tears and then trying to fire the entire Seattle-based research team. The less Bella interfered with Edward's schedule, the better this trip would go for her, Jasper decided.

"Anyway, if you'll follow me, I'll take you to meet Alice, the two of you can look around the house and labs for an hour, we'll all have lunch, and then Alice can show you where your suite would be if you stay here." Jasper led the way up the ornate staircase as he continued speaking, "and then you're free for the evening after a meeting with Edward at 3:30 to discuss your research." Jasper tried to sound confident with the last part of the plan. Bella's skeptical glance up at him suggested he failed.

"Will Edward be up for a meeting? You said he's not very good with new people."

Jasper stopped walking at the top of the stairs, and turned to face Bella. He knew that too much focus on Edward could scare her away. "Edward is not good with new people, but he's great with research. He's going to want to talk to you about all your science stuff," Jasper flapped his hands as though it was all nonsense to him and grinned at her hopefully, reassured when she smiled back. He decided to continue focusing on Bella's shared passion rather than Edward's behavior. "So even if he seems distant, he really cares about the work you'll do here. He'll give you support and resources that you can use to make real progress in your gene therapy reversal."

With a final smile, Jasper led the way down the hallway, confidently navigating the branching corridors until he reached a door with a simple bronze plaque.

_Alice Whitlock_

_Estate Manager_

"Are you ready to meet the strangest, most delightful woman imaginable?" Jasper didn't wait for an answer before he pushed the door open.

*

Bella wasn't certain what she was expecting Jasper's wife to be like. She was confident that no expectations could have prepared her for the reality of Alice.

A petite, ethereal woman, Alice practically danced to the door to greet Jasper. When he pulled her into his arms, Bella was amused to see her spiked black hair immediately flattened by his chin as he lifted her off the ground. The height difference of nearly a foot and a half should have rendered the scene slightly ridiculous, but Jasper's protective stance simply enhanced Alice's fragile beauty. Her almost chalky skin contrasted with the golden hue of Jasper's face and hair.

Bella shifted her weight from one foot to the other as she waited for the couple to finish their reunion. Jasper simply clutched his wife to his chest as though holding a lifeline. In return, Alice buried her face under his chin, and sighed happily. They stood, a motionless tableau of restrained passion, fitting together not because they matched, but because they had learned how to balance each other. Based on their behavior, Bella wondered whether Jasper had been gone longer than the single day she had seen him at the conference.

Abruptly, Alice pulled away from Jasper's chest and he dropped her back down to the ground. "Whoa, sorry, I didn't see Jasper had company." Bella noticed the confused look on Jasper's face at that comment.

"Honey, what do you mean you didn't see I had company?" Bella wondered if she imagined the concerned undertone in Jasper's voice. Perhaps Alice had intermittent vision issues, she mused.

"Not to worry, Jasper, you know how I can get caught up with other things." Alice flapped her hands airily, an eerie copy of Jasper's gesture when he had earlier waved off all the "science stuff."

"If you say so, Alice," Jasper agreed, wrapping an arm around her waist. "Alice, I want to meet Dr. Bella Swan. With any luck, she'll be our new researcher out here."

"A pleasure Dr. Swan, as you must have gathered, I'm Alice," Alice nodded, though she did not offer a hand to shake. Meeting her direct gaze, Bella was surprised to see her blue eyes were slightly cloudy and Bella again wondered whether her eyesight was impaired. She knew she had seen that filminess covering eyes before, though she could not place the memory.

"The pleasure is mine, Alice. Please call me Bella. After Jasper spent so much of the trip talking about you, I feel as though I already know you." Taking her cue from Alice's behavior, Bella refrained from offering her own hand.

"Ladies, I need to go finish some work. Bella, I'm leaving you in good hands, just don't believe any stories Alice tells you about me." Alice's musical giggle blended with Jasper's self-deprecating chuckle as he showed himself out the door.

"Well then! I'm sorry again for the less than professional greeting, Bella. I'm the estate manager here, and Jasper has to travel a fair amount for Edward. Anytime he comes home, it's like he's been gone months," Alice hastened to reassure her, while gesturing for her to sit in a chair in front of her desk.

As she spoke, detailing the various hardships of being away from her husband for 48 hours, Alice swiftly gathered the papers scattered across her workspace, filed them in the cabinets across the room and then adjusted her seat so that her eyes were level with Bella's. Bella smiled at the whirlwind activity, pleased that Jasper's calm good nature was matched with Alice's energy.

On closer inspection, Alice appeared even more beautiful than Bella's initial assessment while she flitted across the room into her husband's arms. Exceptionally pale skin and cloudy eyes notwithstanding, Alice's delicate features were almost shocking in their perfection. The purple blouse she wore draped elegantly across her petite frame. Combined with her short hair, the cut elongated her neck and emphasized her high cheekbones. When Alice cleared her throat, Bella was embarrassed to realize she had been caught studying her.

"Please, don't worry about it Alice. It's actually refreshing to see people so happy together. How long have you been married?"

"Seven years," she answered happily.

"So you're long past the newlywed stage and still greet each other that way? Someday you'll have to share your secret with the world." Bella forced a chuckle before focusing on what she really wanted. "Until that day though, I was really hoping to get a look at the labs before I meet with Dr. Cullen. I want to make sure that the resources are real before I commit to anything when we meet in person."

"Are you nervous?" Alice asked gently. Bella bit her lip, wondering how Alice could tell. "You're shifting your weight back and forth, and your fists are clenched," Alice said before Bella could ask the question. At Bella's questioning glance, Alice elaborated. "Besides, everyone is nervous when they're going to meet my brother if they've heard anything about him. After the drive from Seattle, I'm certain Jasper has painted a bit of a bleak picture of him."

"Your brother?" Bella tried to see Edward's features in Alice. They shared high cheekbones, and dramatically arched brows, but Edward's chiseled jaw line could not be more different than Alice's dainty chin. Though she had only seen him briefly, Bella was certain that Edward was not quite as pale, nor his eyes dimmed in the way Alice's were. Bella only barely caught herself before she sighed out loud remembering his eyes. Piercing green, and though not the green eyes she really wanted to see, they still made her stomach clench. Edward's eyes, she decided, were a close second to_ his_.

"Did Jasper not mention that? Edward is my brother, that's why I'm in charge of the estate. He trusts me to keep a handle on things, especially since he can't usually keep tabs on people with his lab work."

"Oh, no, Jasper didn't say anything. Dr. Cullen was a bit abrupt when we came into the house is all, so I'm anxious to try and overcome whatever I did that upset him," Bella confessed. She knew that Cullen Corp. was offering her a research opportunity unmatched by any other group. If she had to put up with being ignored or glared at by the owner, it would still be preferable to Mike's inept managerial style.

"What did Edward say? Are you sure he was upset? He can be a bit shy," Alice protested in a rush.

"Well that's the thing, Alice. Your brother opened the door, gave me a once-over, then left without speaking a word." Bella found herself equally annoyed and intrigued by his behavior. Perhaps I'm putting too much emphasis on his behavior, she thought, or perhaps I'm being too lenient because of his appearance, whispered a small voice.

"I will speak to him about that. He doesn't always see how his behavior appears to those who don't know him. And I have a good feeling about you. I want you to accept a position here, and I cannot allow Edward's hang-ups to prevent that, now can I? I wonder…" Alice cocked her head to the side as though thinking, locking her gaze with Bella's. Lost in the intensity of the stare, Bella began to lean forward towards Alice, her mind going absolutely blank. Suddenly registering her movement, Bella stiffened her spine and closed her eyes. When she opened her eyes again, the connection receded, and she saw concern in Alice's gold-flecked blue eyes.

"Are you okay Bella?"

"Oh, I'm fine, sorry; I must have gotten lost in thought. Please don't think you did anything wrong," Bella smiled sheepishly.

"I see. I have similar problems, don't worry. Jasper says it's because I spent so much time living on the outer edges of my body and not enough time in my own mind that I get lost when I return to my own brain," Alice laughed.

The chortling was so infectious that Bella found herself joining in, though she wasn't quite certain she understood the joke. "Outer edges of your body, Alice?"

"Oh, sorry, it's an old inside joke. A few years back I was really into new age mysticism. Jasper wanted to play along, so he decided to 'read auras' for pretty much everyone on the estate. He said that mine billowed around me, while others had self-contained auras. Jasper said making eye contact when I'm lost in thought freaks people out."

Though Alice's tone was jesting, apprehension curled in Bella's stomach at her explanation. With the ease born of long practice, Bella determinedly buried the thought, instead focusing on the lighter idea.

"New age stuff? So do you interpret dreams? Or read tarot cards? Or heal with crystals?" Bella tried to conceal her skepticism, relieved when Alice's genuine smile suggested she was not offended at the questions.

"No crystal healing for me, but I've always had a special touch with tarot. Maybe one day I'll do a reading for you." The arch way she issued the invitation revealed to Bella that Alice had easily discerned her doubt.

"I've never wanted to know my future, Alice," Bella retorted, weaving her fingers together and placing them on the desk to keep them from balling into fists.

"Why not?" Alice sounded almost offended.

"Because I want to shape my own future, I don't want it to be dictated to me. I've had enough of that in the past."

"Oh Bella, if you allow me read your future, I promise you that you won't be disappointed," Alice leaned forward across the desk, reaching out towards Bella's clasped hands, which she quickly moved back into her lap and out of Alice's range.

"No thank you, Alice, though it's kind of you to offer." Her tone indicated the subject was firmly closed. Thankfully, Alice accepted with good grace, and declared it time to visit the labs, or "Bella's future home, if you're anything like my brother when you research."

*

"So why did you get into this field, Bella?" Alice asked as they walked towards the labs.

"Well, I want to make sure that we as a species can recover from the misuse of our abilities." Bella continued her rote response, "I'm afraid that the future will see us warping ourselves without understanding what we're losing."

"Bullshit."

"Excuse me?" asked Bella as she stopped to look Alice in the face, her expression blank.

"Bullshit. Someone does not rise to the top of one of the most difficult scientific fields because of an abstract interest in 'preserving humanity's future,'" snapped Alice, as she too stopped walking. "You don't have to tell me, but we both know it's more personal than that. If you want me to speak to Edward about his behavior, don't lie to me."

Bella's expressionless mask barely shifted under Alice's scrutiny, but she knew that Alice deserved at least a little insight into her mind if they were going to be working together. "Fine then, Alice. Yes, a friend of mine was subject to gene therapy. In the midst of it, he told me that he thought he was losing his mind, his self," Bella's voice cracked, and Alice reached over to pat her on the back. Bella jerked away before her hand made contact, maintaining her composure with difficulty.

"He wept in my arms as he confessed that he could no longer remember his sister's face, and that by the time they were finished he didn't know who he would be." Alice's eyes closed in sympathy at the raw pain in Bella's voice. "I promised him that I would do everything in my power to help him regain his humanity. I promised I would reverse what was done to him." At the very end of Bella's tirade, Alice saw the aching grief behind Bella's determination before her face returned to the controlled mask she showed the world.

"And how does he feel about your work now?" asked Alice gently.

"I don't know Alice. He died. He died not knowing his sister's face."

After a long pause, Alice and Bella continued to walk down the hallway, Alice kindly ignoring the remnants of Bella's grief. As she walked, Bella searched for a new topic of conversation, hoping to overshadow the more personal revelations she had offered.

Lost in thought, Alice's voice jarred her when she asked, "so are you a twin?"

"What an oddly specific question."

"Oh, yes, I suppose it is. It's just, Edward and I are twins, and Jasper has a twin sister, Rosalie. We just attract twins here." When Bella didn't respond, Alice pressed on, "so are you?"

"No, I am an only child."

"Oh." Alice sounded disappointed.

Compelled by her distress, Bella elaborated. "I always wanted siblings though. But I was enough of a handful that my parents never tried for more children."

"You were a troublemaker?" Alice scoffed, clearly disbelieving.

"No," Bella had to smile at Alice's reaction, "but there is more than one way to be handful for parents. How about you, is it just the pair of you?"

"No, we also have an older brother, Emmett. He runs security on the estate. I'm sure you'll meet him."

They continued to walk in silence, descending the back stairs to the ground floor. Bella tried to keep track of where they were in relation to either Alice's office or the main stairwell, but admitted to herself that she had no idea where in the building they were. The rich blue carpeting muffled their steps, and Bella admired the paintings hanging along the walls as they walked side-by-side.

"So, you're not a twin…" mused Alice. "What about your parents? Are they researchers like you? Connected to the scientific community?"

Bella shook her head, "no, my dad is a police officer, my mother is a school teacher."

Alice looked disappointed for a moment. Her face brightened as she asked a new question, "oh, what grade does she teach?"

"Elementary school art classes, so kindergarten through fifth grade."

"Hmm…so you're the only one in your family connected to genetic research? What about friends of the family?"

"Alice, why do you ask? Your questions suggest that you're not just idly asking, and I don't know what you want from me."

"Bella, I don't mean to pry, it's just the work we do here at Cullen Corp. is very sensitive. We want to make sure that no one will be able to use your connections here, even if you don't intend them to," explained Alice cautiously.

In spite of the reasonable explanation, Bella was certain there was more to the questioning than a concern over losing research secrets. Before she could question further, the duo turned the corner, and the lush carpeting of the corridor abruptly changed to sterile white tiling. Alice's heels clattered across the floor, echoing through the hall as they walked towards a pair of reinforced metal doors. A large security box adorned the wall on the right hand side.

Raising her voice over the sound of their steps, Alice offered "so this is the laboratory section of the building." Approaching the security box, she motioned Bella over.

"Watch carefully, the system is very sensitive and will not give you access if you do this improperly." A small blue screen lit up as Alice pulled down on a metal latch on the right hand side. "If you use the left hand toggle, it will trigger a silent alarm, but will still light up the scanner. It's great if you need help, but it's a huge annoyance for our security team if you just make a mistake." Alice placed her right hand firmly on the lit screen. The doors slid open, the metal jangling. Air breezed past them as the negative air pressure of the labs started to equalize with the outside atmosphere.

Bella Swan stepped through the doors and into her personal heaven.

*

Bella's reaction to the lab amused Alice. Objectively, Alice knew that Cullen Corp. facilities were far beyond the academic institutions Bella was used to, but the display of open-mouthed awe was too much for Alice to contain her giggles. "Welcome to Cullen Corp.!" she sang happily.

Bella started running her hands along the stainless steel that framed most of the equipment. As she approached the CT scanner, the blue glow colored her pale skin, overwhelming the bright fluorescent lighting. "This is amazing," she breathed.

Alice moved to intercept her as she walked toward the back door. "That's Edward's lab space." Bella's hand froze on the door, and she backed away.

"What about the other doors?" asked Bella.

"Well the right hand door leads to the MRI room and a Level 4 containment area. The left hand door has more of Edward's work, so you'll want to stay out of there. In fact, unless he expressly invites you in, please don't enter any of Edward's lab space. You have your own CT scanner, as you can see, but the MRI machine is used by both of you. If you need anything else equipment-wise, just let me know."

"Alice, you're going to make sure Edward keeps me, right?" The desperation of the plea shocked Alice. "There is so much I can do here; this is a chance that I can't lose. I can't."

"I know Bella. I know. You belong here, and Edward will accept that. After all, we need you too. I'm going to let you look around while I go check on our lunch plans."

As she walked out, Alice could hear Bella's quiet declaration, "I will keep my promise Triple T."

Author's note

This chapter is a bit shorter than I wanted. The next chapter will have Edward's reaction to Bella and their first verbal interactions.

Thank you to the ladies on the Twilighted Thread for being so supportive, particularly Tamsigirl for pimping out my story on other threads. The link to that thread is on my profile. The reviews have been amazing, and I'm honestly curious about how the various readers are finding their way here. Even if you otherwise wouldn't leave a review, please drop a line just to say how you got here.


	4. We’re not Abbott and Costello

**Disclaimer: The Twilight Saga is the intellectual Property of Stephenie Meyer. I am merely playing in her sandbox.**

*

Edward paced through the entrance hall, ignoring the art carefully selected to simultaneously appeal to visitors and reveal their subconscious inclinations. He wondered which pieces would draw Dr. Isabella Swan's eye. The information could tell him a lot about her. Lauren, his last acquisition, had stood for so long in front of a reproduction of Ernst Herter's Loreley Fountain that Edward thought Lauren might have actually been seduced by the German sirens. He had not been certain whether it was the elevation of the female form, or the clear hierarchy embodied in the sculpture that appealed to Lauren more. She remained imprecise, entranced by the white marble. Yes, he thought, Dr. Swan's reaction to the art would be telling. And if she ignored the art entirely, that too would reveal more than she might otherwise disclose.

The file on Dr. Swan had been fairly thin. Impeccable academic records in spite of a shortened academic timeline. Excellent recommendations. Publications that had impressed him when he reread them over his dinner. But her social activities had been minimal, and personal information was sparse. Her professors had praised her independent work ethic and brilliant analysis, but had remained silent on personality traits other than those directly applied in the lab. Edward idly considered requesting a deeper investigation before dismissing the thought: he would be able to answer those questions for himself within the hour.

The crunching of gravel under tires heralded the new arrival to the Cullen estate. He was uncomfortable with new people entering his safe zone, which he defined as circle with a mile radius centered on the estate. Through his discomfort, Edward prepared himself. After lectures from both his parents and Alice, Edward knew enough to greet his new employee with an open door and a friendly face. He had every intention of donning that welcoming visage until he threw open the front door and caught sight of her.

Edward rarely indulged in his artistic side. His work was too time-consuming and too important to sacrifice for his own entertainment. But he had training. And his training screamed at him with just one glance. The woman before him was a work of art. Flawlessly symmetrical features, with a slightly pointed chin that balanced out the wide forehead and dark hair pulled into a braid. Her waist and hips were in perfect ratio. For the first time in his memory, he found himself growing physically aroused. Her suit coat obscured her chest, but if it matched the rest, then Dr. Swan was just about _perfect_. As soon as the word flitted through his mind, Edward's assessing squint hardened into a glare.

Perfection was not a good word.

The searing heat of yesterday's recovered memories flamed across his skin. Arcing pain curled along his fingertips as his blood pounded in his ears. The wetness of his pulse taunted the dry heat licking the rest of his body at the recall of his memory. The earlier tightening of his groin immediately dissipated.

Edward could tell that his facial expression communicated his mood when Dr. Swan glanced down at her clothing, as though checking to make certain everything was in order. He had already confirmed in his own mind that the fitted skirt displaying shapely calves was entirely in order. But she remained silent. Finally, she looked up and met his gaze.

_Brown eyes._

*

A deep breath and a cloak of calmness surrounded Jasper as he prepared himself for a face-to-face conversation with Edward. Speaking though a technological intermediary was always easier, but Jasper had learned the small tricks that made conversations with his brother-in-law bearable. He wished they worked for Alice.

As Jasper pushed the thick metal door open, he half expected to be greeted with flickering firelight and Edward's face cast in harsh relief as he brooded in the shadows. The blandness of the florescent lab lights was almost a disappointment. Edward's grimace was not.

"What the hell?" Jasper demanded as he stalked into the room.

"Pardon?" Edward's single word dripped with counterfeited innocence. He watched as Jasper began to pace through the lab. The blue-green submersion vats reflected his form, a league of marching images.

"Pardon? What the hell, Edward? You stand there, glare, and stalk away. You may not be a people person, but that was ridiculous. How can you expect me to keep her here once it sinks in that she's going to be working with you?" Jasper spat. "I'm good, but I'm not that good. You better hope that all the pretty science shit you have is enough to persuade her," Jasper's sweeping gesture encompassed the wide array of equipment filling the room, "because the way you're acting is going to drive Bella right out of this building and back into academia."

"And what if that's what I want?" Edward's words were more of a hiss, surprising Jasper out of his tirade.

"I don't follow."

"If I want her gone?" Edward abruptly stood, turning his back on Jasper as he ostensibly adjusted a dial on one of the vats.

"I still don't follow. You've not even met her. She fulfills all of your criteria; she's perfect for the position." Edward stiffened nearly imperceptibly at Jasper's words, his fingers fumbling slightly on the controls.

"Jasper, I know her," his whisper slithered through the air uncertainly.

"Edward, you don't know anyone," laughed Jasper in response. "You don't leave the estate, and you haven't for years. You basically bribed MIT to allow you to complete your PhD here."

"It wasn't a bribe. I just paid for my advisor to live here and funded his entire lab while I completed the work," scoffed Edward.

"Fine, whatever, though I still maintain that was a bribe. But the fact remains that you don't know anyone. If Bella had been here, we would know about it," Jasper waved his hands dismissively.

"Jasper, I'm telling you, I recognized her," Edward insisted, his voice had gained strength since his first assertion.

At the growing certainty in Edward's voice, Jasper hesitated. "Where from?"

"I'm not certain. There's something about the eyes, I'm sure I've seen her before." His voice hardened as he continued, "and if I recognize her, it's a major problem. You're right, she's not been here before and there's no photo of her in the file. That means she's probably a plant from the Core."

"Wait, what? How did you make that leap of logic?"

Edward continued to ramble on, ignoring Jasper's interjection. "You must have seen how beautiful she is. She's been sent here to spy on us, I'm sure of it."

"Edward, you're my friend, my brother, and I suppose that it's time someone finally told you this: just because you find a woman attractive doesn't mean she's the agent of some shadowy force trying to destroy you." Jasper paused, watching Edward collapse back into his seat and cradle his face in his hands. "Are we finally going to have the birds and the bees talk?"

Jasper could almost see Edward biting back the profanities he thought beneath him. Instead, jaw clenched, Edward looked over Jasper's shoulder and began to drum his fingers rhythmically on the lab table. The entire scenario amused Jasper, though he tried to conceal that fact. Edward had always looked on romantic entanglements with a kind of absentminded bemusement. Never appearing interested in a man or a woman, Edward had existed in Jasper's mind as entirely asexual. Apparently, Edward was simply Bellasexual.

Finally, Edward's jaw relaxed and he huffed out a breath. "I know this amuses you, but Jasper, shut up a moment and _think_."

Sensing his genuine anxiety, Jasper did just that. "Okay, so you're attracted to a woman. Which I honestly think is awesome, man."

"Not that, think about what it means for me to recognize her!" Edward cut him off impatiently.

"Oh."

"Very articulate. Why are you in charge of my public image?"

"Because even if I suck at it, you suck more," quipped Jasper.

"Fair enough," Edward conceded.

"So you recognize her. She's probably been to a conference you've seen webcast. Or maybe one of the professors you worked with had a snapshot of her from summer work or something. Hell, maybe you met her, you know, before…" Jasper trailed off, realizing he had simply led Edward back to his initial conclusion.

"Or maybe I met her at the Core. And if I met her at the Core, she's a threat," Edward declared.

"Are you sure? Maybe she's like you," Jasper offered weakly.

"She's not on the list."

"So what are the options, keeping in mind we still haven't ruled out you seeing her someplace else? All you have to go on is 'something about the eyes,' right?"

"She was pale, and she's clearly intelligent," Edward pointed out.

"You want me to round up all the genius albinos in the world for you?"

Edward sighed. "Okay, granting your point that she may not be from the Core, we still have to consider what it means if I'm right. She could be a Stolen Soul, a doctor looking for a new start or a knowing operative. I don't see any other options. She's a threat, even if she doesn't know she's a threat."

"Is she enough of a threat that you can't wait to ferret out her secrets yourself? That wouldn't take long for you, even if she is trying to hide something."

Jasper could see Edward struggling with his answer. "Normally I would agree with you, Jasper, but this is a special circumstance. It worries me even more, honestly."

"I don't follow."

"I can't get a read on her."

"What?"

"I asked for someone with an organized mind and you brought me someone who blocks me entirely," Edward groaned into his hands.

"You're shitting me," Edward grimaced at Jasper's phrasing but shook his head no. "Wow, I wonder if she was wearing a tin-foil hat. I always thought I would look styling with one of those."

Edward raised his head from his hands and rolled his eyes. "Do you see what I mean, though? She's a plant from the Core, and she probably doesn't even know it."

Jasper answered his eye-roll with a snort. "You've still not convinced me. There are other ways you could recognize her, and she seems shy. Maybe you just need more time to get a read on her because of that. It's not as though you get a lot of practice."

Edward sighed and resumed his finger drumming. Jasper leaned back against a vat, the light framing his lanky figure.

The finger drumming stopped, but was soon replaced by the pulling of hair. Jasper waited.

Edward jumped to his feet and began to pace. Jasper smirked. He knew that Edward's habits. The pacing was a good sign. He wouldn't want to summarily eliminate Bella as a candidate now; he was past his initial kneejerk reaction. It had taken Jasper five years to really understand Edward's decision making. His initial reactions were almost never based on linear logic. Instead they depended on emotional leaps that Edward would subsequently justify.

Deciding that Bella was a plant from the Core was a perfect example. Edward thought she was pretty, a decidedly un-Edwardly thought. Her eyes had seemed familiar. Change was scary, the Core was scary and familiar, and therefore Bella was part of the Core. Even though the threat was real, Bella wasn't necessarily the embodiment of that threat. And now Edward was realizing that.

Edward stopped pacing.

"Okay then. If she's not from the Core, then she's probably not a threat, and I want her here working. On paper she's fantastic, and I'm sure we could develop a decent working relationship. If she is from the Core, then we can keep an eye on her and make sure she's not acting against us."

"Better a spy we know than one we don't," offered Jasper.

"Exactly. But I want to know for sure. First order of business, I want a full background check, not just the employment check we already received. Have them talk to everyone down to who she passed in the hallways. Get Alice on the case. Make sure that Dr. Swan and Alice become close enough that Alice can get information about her."

Jasper interrupted at this point, "Alice and Bella are talking now. I don't think it will take much to encourage a friendship. Should I tell Alice about your suspicions?"

"No, I want Alice unbiased on this. Now, what else…get her medical records. I don't care who you have to bribe to break HIPAA, those will tell us more than just about anything else. I'll make sure she doesn't have access to the submersion vats. In fact, she shouldn't have access to any information that would allow her to divine the existence of anything more than I've published."

"That all sounds reasonable, though you're going to have to figure out what labs she's kept out of. What else?"

"Let's have security keep an eye on her, just in case she is a threat," Edward concluded.

"Bad idea. At least, bad idea if you tell Rose why you want Bella monitored."

Edward's brow wrinkled in confusion. "Why? Rose needs all the information we have to do her job properly."

"Edward," said Jasper patiently, "think about my sister. What would she do if you told her that Dr. Bella Swan was a potential threat from the Core?"

Edward immediately voiced the ingrained response, "eliminate the threat with prejudice." He sucked in a breath as though he had been punched. "No. That's unacceptable. Even if we don't keep her here, we're not killing Dr. Swan. She's not dying." Edward told himself that the loss to the scientific community would be too great.

Jasper wasn't sure how to interpret the latter half of Edward's declaration, so he only answered the first half. "Exactly. Eliminate the threat. You tell Rosalie, and she will thank you for the information, and then four hours later, Rosalie will be returning from a pig farm after killing your new prize scientist."

"Is there really a pig farm that close?"

"I don't know, probably, maybe she goes to the ocean or a quarry or something instead." Jasper waved dismissively, "the point is, if you tell Rosalie that she's a potential threat, then you're going to have a corpse on your hands," Jasper concluded with absolute conviction.

"Well then, Mr. Strategist, what should I do? I can't let Dr. Swan just roam around without someone keeping an eye on her."

Jasper peered up at the ceiling while he thought. The plain white plaster had no answers. Finally, rubbing his jaw he offered, "tell Rosalie that Dr. Swan may be threatened. It gives Rosalie a reason to keep an eye on her without painting a giant target on Dr. Swan's back."

Edward chuckled, a slightly panicked edge in his voice, "oh come now Jasper, you know your twin. Rosalie would never shoot someone in the back when she could kill them face-to-face."

Their shared laughter was tinged with mania as they left the lab behind and retreated to Edward's more naturally lit office. The hum of the submersion vats filled the lab, harmonizing with the soft lapping of disturbed liquid against glass.

*

Edward was always happiest after a decision had been made, but before it went into play in the real world and had its shine knocked off. So he was thrilled that Cullen Corp. was keeping one Dr. Isabella Swan for the foreseeable future. Also, not killing a potentially innocent woman was a plus, he had to admit. Especially such an attractive woman…he immediately suppressed the foreign thought. His reaction to Dr. Swan was unfamiliar and frankly unwelcome. The woman had yet to do more than stand in front of him, and she had already destroyed his plans for the day.

Jesus, what were his plans for the day now? Obviously spending the pre-lunch hours interviewing her was out of the question. Spending his lunch holed up in his office with Jasper didn't appeal to him either, even if Jasper was able to bring out a lighter side he barely recognized in himself anymore.

"Jasper?"

"What?"

"What now?"

"What now what?" Jasper laughed as he responded.

"We're not Abbott and Costello, Jasper. What do we do now?"

"Oh, you mean now that we've decided not to let Rosalie kill one of the most promising geneticists in the country?" Jasper was still laughing a bit. Edward tried to decide if that annoyed him. No, he had to admit Jasper's good humor didn't annoy him. "Yes. Now that we're actually going to find out if she's part of the Core."

Edward was pleased that the name sobered Jasper immediately. "Edward, I have to ask: if you really think she's part of the Core, what should we be doing? I mean, protect the research, and keep Rose on her, yes, but what personally? Is she dangerous? Is she like Kate? Or the Twins?"

The idea that Dr. Swan might be like Kate or the Twins troubled him. "We do what we can, I guess. Don't let her touch you. You said she's with Alice right now?" At Jasper's nod he continued, "Alice is fine then. She doesn't touch strangers anyway. Make sure that you check in with me frequently so we can keep track of any odd happenings. Other than that, I'll have to call the network and see what people suggest."

"Edward, you can't call the network, you know someone will go to Rose. They'll think you're being influenced, especially if you admit to thinking she might be a Stolen Soul," Jasper warned. "Too many of them think you're too invested in reversing the process. That you'll be too trusting if you have a real Stolen Soul on your hands."

"Fair point, okay, I won't put out feelers," Edward agreed. Jasper always had a better sense for how people would react than he did. "So we'll have to depend on what Alice can see, without letting her get too close."

"Alice won't touch Bella now, but if you try to push them together, Alice will try to make the link so it's easier. You know how she is," cautioned Jasper.

"We'll burn that bridge when we come to it."

"You mean we'll cross that bridge when we come to it?" Jasper corrected.

"No, Jasper, we'll be burning that bridge," Edward insisted. "We'll protect Alice."

"Speaking of Alice, you're having lunch with her today."

"Very subtle subject change there, Jasper."

"Thank you, I try."

"Lunch with Alice?" Edward asked warily.

"You, me, Alice and the good Dr. Swan," Jasper confirmed.

"You know how hard it is for me to be around Alice. She's more refined than I am. She can deal with…"

Jasper cut him off. "I know, believe me, I know. It's not easy for me to watch, and I know it's harder for you, and not just because you tune in, but she needs this. The distance depresses her, and you know she blames herself."

"That's ridiculous, they did this."

"I know," Jasper soothed, "but she still blames herself anytime you cut off contact for too long, especially when you live in the same house."

Edward nodded. "I suppose lunch will be okay. I'll have the afternoon immediately afterwards to try to sort through what she shows me." He paused, "when am I going to interview Dr. Swan? I suppose I could give up my afternoon."

"No!" Jasper practically shouted. "Edward, we want to keep her, not make her cry and send her home to the asshole in charge of her last lab."

Well, that was probably fair, Edward conceded mentally, recalling the last time he skipped meditation. "I still want to interview her though."

"Fine, you can interview her after your Zen time."

"Fine."

"Fine."

"We're still not Abbott and Costello, Jasper."

"That wasn't even close to an Abbott and Costello routine."

"I'm just saying. You're not funny."

"I'm hilarious. Just ask Bella."

"Right, I'm going to trust her opinion."

"You should. In this case, I don't care where she comes from, I'm funny."

"Right Jasper. I want those background reports ASAP. Don't bother to collate them, just give them to me as they're sent in."

"Trying to change the subject matter to something serious doesn't make me less funny, Edward."

They had always used humor to defuse stressful situations. Even as he laughed, Edward wondered why he was still nervous about meeting Dr. Swan.

*

A/N

Question for the Day: do any diseases scare you more than others? I know I will probably never be exposed, but rabies frightens the hell out of me.

I wanted this up on Monday. I'm afraid that with my first story, I'm thus far overestimating my ability to predict when I will finish a chapter. I will always strive for weekly updates though. As always the reviews have been stellar, even if my replies have been lacking. I never know what to say in a reply to a review. If I just said thank you for reviewing, would that be adequate? There seems to be an etiquette here that entirely eludes me.


	5. Bread Alone

**Disclaimer: The Twilight Saga is Stephenie Meyer's intellectual property. I am merely playing in her sandbox.**

*

Lunch was not what Bella expected.

After her emotional demand that Alice help keep her at Cullen Corp., the duo had continued to explore the house. Bella balked initially, determined to inspect every instrument in the lab.

"Bella, you'll have so much more fun gushing to someone who understands why you're gushing," Alice pleaded. "And I'm not the woman for that. This afternoon you'll get a chance to meet the two lab techs, Ben and Angela. I'm sure they'll happily indulge you. I only know about the MRI and the CT scanner because I helped arrange the purchases. In the meantime, let's continue the tour."

"But…" Bella twirled haplessly, torn with the desire to examine everything at once while running her hands along the pristine lab benches.

"No buts. You're basically going to be living here in a week anyway, you should admire other parts of the house before you forget about the outside world," Alice insisted. Bella reluctantly followed after patting the CT scanner fondly.

In each new room Bella involuntarily pictured the owner of the house, lean muscles relaxed as he lounged in his domain. Each time, Bella meticulously purged the image from her mind. She wasn't sure why the brief encounter made such an impression. Perhaps because his impossibly perfect home reminded her of his similarly perfect appearance.

Everything from the new laboratory fixtures, to the cutting edge security system, to the art screamed wealthy sophistication. So when Alice trilled out that it was time for lunch, Bella was mentally preparing herself for a long mahogany table full of forks that she didn't know when to use and foods that would be expensive, colorful, and difficult to eat.

Instead, Alice led her to a large, well-used kitchen and then into a small connecting room. Rather than the polished mahogany of her imagination, Bella was pleased to admire a well-made, but clearly well-used oak table. The nook cozily held the table, four chairs, and a sideboard laden with food. The room's white walls and wooden floors conveyed a simple hominess that belied the sophisticated mansion that housed it. It was clearly a place designed for comfort rather than show. Bella wondered if Alice was trying to send her a message by hosting the lunch in this room, rather than the formal dining hall she knew this house must contain.

A large window afforded little light as the gray skies opened up and released the rain that had been threatening all morning. A small gargoyle exorcized water directly over the window, a quirk of architecture that Bella thought deliberate. In an area as rainy as Forks, the gargoyle's spout would be constantly used, and the contrast between the warm interior of this room and damp chill outside simply enhanced the coziness.

The falling water blurred the view, but Bella could barely discern the woods cradling the house, pockets of trees extending towards the building like outstretched fingers. Though she missed the dry heat of her Arizona childhood, Bella enjoyed the idea that the forest was trying to embrace her. In the green wetness she saw a sign that perhaps this place would welcome her in and make her whole.

Conflicting desires for both the sustaining warmth and the turbulent storm unfurled within her mind. The tamed heat of the room contrasted with the wildness outside, and for a moment Bella longed to be out in the rain, feeling the water coursing around her as it purified her of both her anxiety and her thoughts of the house's owner. Then, soaked and free from her unwanted thoughts, she could return to the house and revel in the safety offered here.

Shaking her head at the fanciful notions, Bella tried to catalog the physical features of the forest. She wished she knew the names of the trees. Botany had never been her subject. At the very least, Bella determined that the view would nicely occupy her attention if Edward randomly decided that he would not converse with his potential employee.

Alice suddenly reached out and firmly jerked the drapes closed, the thick green cloth swaying slightly as it settled into its new position. The view of the woods would not be saving Bella from facing Edward Cullen again. Instead, the flat greenness hollowly echoed the richness beyond it without holding her attention.

"Jasper gets distracted by the rain," Alice offered in explanation, but her expression was closed. Bella wondered if Alice had caught on to her nerves about seeing Edward again and her secret plan to mentally escape into the woods if Edward's antisocial behavior continued.

"And Jasper works in Washington?" Bella finally asked.

"Not very well if there's a window around," Alice smiled.

Sighing, Bella turned back towards the unpleasant task of preparing for the meal. Pleased they had beat the men to the table, Bella gratefully took the seat that allowed her to sit with her back to the wall. As they waited, she tried to maintain her conversation with Alice while the aromas wafting over the table distracted her. She also carefully herded her thoughts away from Edward Cullen. He would be there in the flesh soon enough.

*

Bella did her best not to stiffen in her chair when the men entered the room a short while later. After sharing an amiable grin with Jasper, she turned her attention uncertainly to Edward. He looked timelessly handsome in a white button-up and black slacks. Tousled bronze hair contrasted sharply with his neat attire. As he stalked into the room, his green eyes seemed to widen slightly. To her surprise, he was staring intently at Alice.

"Alice? I thought you were still in the other wing," Edward murmured uncertainly. Bella tried not to squirm as he turned his gaze upon her. "You, however, I am not surprised to see."

"Edward!" snapped Alice in reproof. Bella watched as the twins glared at each other. After a moment, Alice cocked her head to side as though silently asking a question. Edward's glare narrowed further before he shook his head slightly. Alice's cloudy eyes reflected shock until she schooled her features back into polite affability and jerked her head towards Bella.

"Sorry, Dr. Swan, that was rude of me," Edward's apologized flatly. "Welcome to Cullen Corp. I hope your tour was enjoyable?" He did not offer his hand.

"It's Bella, please," Bella thought for a moment about offering her own hand before deciding that her strange desire to touch this man did not outweigh the risks inherent in physical contact. Instead Bella offered a smile and a nod. "And yes, your home is incredible; Alice is an excellent tour-guide. Your art collection is particularly impressive."

Edward smirked slightly. "Why don't we eat and then we can discuss that?" he asked, gesturing towards the heavily laden table.

Carefully avoiding the others in the close quarters, Bella made her way to the table. A variety of sandwiches and two large tureens of soup occupied a quarter of the table.

"Clam chowder and lentil soup, respectively," Alice informed her, pointing to each one in turn. "Mrs. Cope wasn't sure if you had any food restrictions, so she told me to let you know that the lentil soup is vegetarian."

"That's very thoughtful of her," Bella acknowledged as she ladled clam chowder into a bowl. "This smells incredible, and the sandwiches look delicious. So much food for just the four of us, though."

"It's a lot of food, but it won't go to waste. As soon as we're done, leftovers will go to the kitchen and I'll send out an e-mail so the staff knows that there's food in the kitchen. Our brother alone will make sure it gets eaten," Alice commented. "Not that we'll leave too much for them. Wait until you try the chowder."

"Don't forget the bread," commented Jasper as he grabbed four slices. "Mrs. Cope makes it fresh everyday. I could live on this bread." He placed two of the slices on Bella's plate, considered his own plate, deposited the remaining two slices and added three additional slices.

"Man does not live on bread alone," interjected Edward absently as he returned the table and began filling the water glasses.

"Religious messages, Edward? You must be kidding me. Not every literary allusion needs to be identified," scoffed Jasper. There was something in the exchange, a tightness of jaws and gritting of teeth that suggested the conversation was not about bread. When they both glanced up at Bella, she did her best to look unaffected. Their cryptic glances and coded words did nothing but confuse her.

"Sorry Jasper. It is very good bread," Edward agreed. He looked slightly flustered at being called out. Bella wondered just how rarely Edward interacted with other people. Abruptly, Edward gestured toward the full water glasses, "I'm sorry, did anyone want anything to drink besides water? We have other options in the kitchen." Although the question was directed to the group generally, he only looked at Bella. When she shook her head no, he nodded and slid the glasses around the table.

As they settled back into their seats, Bella noticed that Edward kept fidgeting, occasionally pinching the bridge of his nose. She tried not to read too much into the fact that he sat as far away from her as possible, given the small table. Even now, separated by solid oak, Bella could see him subtly lean away from the table. Rather than draw attention to his behavior, Bella tried to restart the conversation.

"So, as I was saying, your art collection is very impressive." She started to butter her slice of bread absently.

"Thank you. I cannot claim credit for it entirely, but I've tried to add to the family collection. I don't visit museums, so I try to bring the art here," Edward winced slightly as he finished, as though revealing too much information.

Knowing that she could not afford to alienate him, Bella decided against commenting on his apparently self-inflicted isolation. Meeting his gaze, Bella answered, "Well, you have excellent taste. I recognized some of the pieces, but others I would love to examine in more depth."

"Were there any pieces that particularly appealed to you?" Edward's expression was oddly intent, and he leaned across the table towards her while he waited for her response.

"Well it's hard to pick just one, but there was a fascinating piece in your entry hall." Bella continued to butter the bread blindly, caught in Edward's eyes. When he gestured for her to continue, Bella clarified, "_Daphne's Escape and Imprisonment_."

"One of my favorites, as well. Why do you like it?"

"I've always loved the myth of Daphne and Apollo," Bella admitted.

"Really? It seems as though it would be fairly meaningless in modern society," suggested Edward.

"Not at all. Daphne symbolizes the unknown consequences of accepting aid. She's carefree, simply enjoying life and then circumstances entirely out of her control force her to flee from Apollo. In the moment she was about to be captured, she cries out for help, and she's transformed into the laurel tree. She manages to elude Apollo, but she's also imprisoned in her new form. Then, to add insult to injury, Apollo still uses her branches to crown his favorite devotees." Bella's voice dripped derision towards the long-obsolete deity.

"You seem to know a lot more about Greek Mythology than I would expect for a geneticist," noted Edward. Bella tried not to bristle at the faint tenor of distrust underlying his words.

"Chronic insomnia," Bella admitted, "it gives you a lot of time for extra learning. My lab supervisors _did _want me to go home occasionally. Though I admit it's been awhile since I've reviewed Greek Mythology, Daphne and Apollo stick out in my memory."

"But why the sculpture? Clearly the myth speaks to you, is that the only reason you like the art?" Bella was surprised when Alice interjected the question.

"Not at all. I've always enjoyed Bernini's interpretation of the myth, but this version was even better. Unlike Bernini's _Daphne and Apollo_, _Daphne's Escape and Imprisonment_ only contains Daphne. It makes the outside force much less tangible and focuses on the pain Daphne must go through. The name reflects that Daphne doesn't win in her confrontation. Even in transformation she cannot be free. The facial expression the artist captured is heartbreaking."

"That's a very exact interpretation," commented Edward. "Have you seen the Bernini sculpture in person?" He was still leaning over the table towards Bella, anxious for her answer.

"No, I've never been to Italy. I've never left the country, actually," Bella's voice was faintly wistful. With her intense schooling and publishing schedule, she had never had the chance to travel much. A small internal voice reminded her that even without those factors, traveling abroad was not an option for her.

At Bella's answer, Edward's eager pose relaxed slightly, and he gestured with a soup spoon. "Oh, well, even in Bernini's sculpture, don't you think that Daphne gets exactly what she asked for? Even if she didn't know exactly what the transformation would lead to?"

"Well I cannot speak for the artist, only for myself." Bella realized that she'd probably been giving more insight into her own history than necessary and tried to keep the topic moving. "Though I wonder, who did create the piece? There wasn't a name attached to the plaque."

Edward nodded towards Alice, who looked down at her soup.

"You made it?" Bella asked, surprised.

"Yes, about five years ago I started working in silver. There are a few other pieces I've finished, but that one is my favorite," Alice remained focused on her soup as she spoke. "Ovid's words struck me when I first read them, and I wanted to capture them: '_a heavy numbness seized her limbs, thin bark closed over her breast, her hair turned into leaves, her arms into branches, her feet so swift a moment ago stuck fast in slow-growing roots, her face was lost in the canopy. Only her shining beauty was left._'"

Bella tried to recall the details of the sculpture. The high cheekbones and delicate chin captured in silver were also found in the flesh before her. Even the wildness of the nymph's curls as the growing branches shredded them echoed Alice's spiky hair.

"It's a self-portrait," blurted Bella.

Alice jerked her head up to meet Bella's gaze. Shock colored her expression. "No. Well, not exactly. It's not a portrait in the typical way." Bella waited in silence. With a smile that didn't reach her eyes, Alice elaborated "I'm my own best model though. I'm always available when I want to create art. Nothing else to it." The last words were again directed towards the bowl in front of her rather than the table at large.

Bella suppressed her snort of disbelief. "Of course. It's a lovely piece of art, Alice. I would love to see more of your work." Alice said nothing, but a slight tightening around her eyes suggested to Bella that Alice would not be giving tours of her studio. Alice's emotional responses said far more than her words. Seeing herself as Daphne…Bella knew with a surety that belied the casual conversation that something had been done to Alice. Something that had both saved and destroyed her.

Glancing away from Alice's downturned face, Bella noticed Jasper looked uncharacteristically somber as he watched his wife listlessly eat her soup across the table. Trying not to read too much into the sudden change in mood, Bella simply watched her companions for a moment. Their behavior spoke of long familiarity. Alice passed Edward the salt just as he began to reach for it. Edward in turn passed the shaker to Jasper without a word. Meanwhile Jasper was savoring Mrs. Cope's bread, eyes apparently rolled back into his head. Jasper didn't even open his eyes when the salt was placed in his hand.

Suddenly realizing she had eaten nothing in spite of her hunger, Bella began spooning soup into her mouth. The chowder was richer than she expected, and between the unexpected heaviness and Edward's intent stare, she choked slightly as she swallowed. Reaching out for her water, Bella managed to pour a slight amount on her suit jacket. Sighing, she patted the water off before deciding to simply remove her blazer.

She stood, pushed her chair back and swiftly released both rows of buttons on her jacket. Turning, she leaned over to hang the black blazer on the back of her chair, leaving Bella in only a skirt and a thin, sleeveless blue sweater. A sudden choking sound interrupted her movements. Spinning, Bella saw Jasper trying to hide a grin behind his hand while Edward stoically stirred his soup, staring at the curtains. Alice merely looked bemused, examining Bella's suddenly bare arms. Bella absently rubbed the puckered scar on the inside of her right elbow. None of her efforts to reduce its size or prominence had had any success.

"Sorry, I just don't want to drip anything on my suit," the statement was nearly a question.

"It's a lovely suit, though it doesn't flatter your figure," noted Alice. "You would look better in a single-breasted coat. You're a bit too slight for that many buttons. The sweater is much better."

Bella knew that already. Her entire wardrobe was chosen to be professional, but slightly off-putting. During her time at Berkeley she had discovered that clothing was advertising. Tightly fitting clothes brought unwanted contact and attention. Slightly frumpy clothing brought respectful indifference to her appearance. She hated using her superior abilities to prevent…incidents. Once she started her MD/PhD program the problem has solved itself. The unflattering white lab coats everyone wore were enough to disguise the curves her t-shirts and jeans exposed. When the coats were insufficient, Bella found that her frequent use of high concentration sulfuric and hydrochloric acids ensured that people kept a careful physical distance. No one wanted a trip to the local chemical burn unit.

"Well, the suit is more for professional appearances than it is for personal appearances," Bella admitted. "When I'm in the lab, I tend to go for jeans and long-sleeved t-shirts. You know, in case of chemical spills and fire."

Alice looked bewildered.

"Loose clothing is a hazard," Bella explained. "If I leaned over a Bunsen burner with fluttery sleeves, I could set myself on fire. But I still need clothing that covers the maximum amount of skin in case of a chemical spill. Long-sleeved t-shirts and jeans provide the best combination of comfort and protection. Plus they're easy to strip off in a hurry," Bella finished nonchalantly.

This time Bella saw Edward choke on his soup.

"You know, if I spill acid or anything, it's nice to be able to quickly take my cloths off before it gets to my skin," Bella clarified.

Edward was still breathing raggedly, avoiding Bella's gaze.

Alice elected to break the tension by actually asking one of the interview questions Bella had expected.

"So are you going to be okay living in the sticks? Forks is pretty far away from the city, and based on our conversation, you've always lived in metro or suburban areas."

"As long as I have a well equipped lab I'm fine anywhere, and there's no question that the labs here qualify," answered Bella enthusiastically. Truthfully, the labs here were beyond anything she could have dreamed. She hoped that her sincerity was enough to overcome the awkwardness of her stripping comment.

Of course, Alice had to ruin the distraction.

"Your boyfriend won't mind you moving away from Seattle?"

"No, he definitely won't mind," answered Bella, ducking her head so Alice couldn't see her rolling her eyes at the idea she had time for a boyfriend.

"He's okay making the drive then? You won't be able to see each other that often," Alice pressed.

"If he existed, I'm sure he would be fine." Bella glanced up and caught Alice's eyes, trying to drive home her point. "I don't date, Alice," Bella's answer had a note of finality that Alice ignored.

"At all?"

"I've never found a man who I was interested in enough to take my attention away from research. I have my priorities, and few men want to be told they would be a very, very distant second to my passion." Bella paused, and decided after a moment to continue, "and a man content to never instill passion is not a man I want to date, anyway."

"God, you sound just like Edward," laughed Alice. Seeing his glare, she moved on. "It's great that it wouldn't be a problem, though. Forks doesn't offer much to the single girl. There are a few men employed by our security team who might change your mind though. If they work here, they understand the importance of the work you do."

Glancing through her eyelashes, Bella saw Edward tense at Alice's comments. He glared at her momentarily, once again engaging Alice in the silent conversation Bella had seen before. Alice only offered a Mona Lisa smile. Clearly frustrated, Edward turned his attention back to his potential employee. Shaking his head slightly, he returned to the expected interview questions.

"Speaking of the work we do, why gene therapy reversal, Bella?" A thrill shot through her when he said her name. She wondered if Edward Cullen had a special talent for seducing women with his voice and his glare, which was intriguingly frightening. Or perhaps it was frighteningly intriguing, she admitted to herself. She managed to answer his question only through long practice with a rote response.

"Because we're already using gene therapy for genetic disorders. It's used to treat cystic fibrosis, hemophilia, SCID and more. And gene therapy without knowing how to reverse it is the worst kind of human subject experimentation." Bella did her best to subdue her long-standing anger as she continued. "A parent watching their child suffer from a genetic disease is vulnerable to manipulation. Unscrupulous researchers can use parental consent for treatment as carte blanche for all sorts of manipulations. It's easy because gene therapy is unpredictable, so unexpected results are easy enough to explain away. Someone needs to know how to treat that. Reverse it." Her final words were more a breath than a statement, "heal it."

"You sound very sure that it's going to be a real problem," Edward noted. His voice was tightly controlled, and Bella wondered whether he too had seen the road to Hell.

"That's because I'm very sure that it already _is_ a real problem. I've lost one friend already." Bella knew that revealing her personal connection was a calculated risk. Many researchers wanted everyone to remain emotionally detached, but after her conversation with Alice, Bella knew that Edward would learn of her history anyway. At least part of her history, she amended internally.

"So you think that we should eliminate all gene therapy?" Edward's question was surprisingly sharp.

"I didn't say that. Gene therapy can do a lot of good if people know what they're getting into. But they usually don't." Bella clenched her hands into fists in her lap, a wadded napkin suffered the brunt of her wrath. "They're too desperate for a cure to ask enough questions about what's going to happen. Sure when it cures a fatal disease the risks may be worth it to the person, but enhancements? Those are promises with a price. And the price is paid in blood and pain."

"Who pays the price?" asked Alice.

"We all do."

Bella wanted to add more. She wanted to say that Alice paid the price, but she wasn't yet absolutely sure.

After an uneasy silence, Jasper elected to break the mood. "Wow Bella, are you going to have some bread with that butter?"

Bella glanced down at her plate. She had long since finished the chowder, but the bread she had absently buttered at the start of lunch still rested on the side of her plate. It was covered in an unappetizingly thick layer of butter. Inwardly she cursed obsolete habits.

"Jasper!" Alice admonished.

"What? I'm not saying she shouldn't eat it! She could probably use the calories, she's so thin, and I just thought it was funny."

Edward rested his head in his hands as his sister and brother-in-law bickered amiably over the inappropriateness of Jasper's comment. Bella wondered if all professional interviews were this odd. Maybe living in the academic research world had sheltered her more than she thought.

"Actually it's an old childhood habit," Bella finally interrupted the happily arguing duo. "There was a time when my mother was worried about malnutrition and became convinced that slathering everything with butter was the solution. If I don't pay attention it resurfaces." Bella bit her lip to keep from elaborating.

"Malnutrition? What an unusual concern this day and age," mused Edward. Again Bella fought to stay still under his assessing gaze.

She weakly responded, "well, it's just my mother, she's different, scattered. She sometimes gets ideas in her head." A vague hand gesture completed the sentiment. Bella hoped that her possible malnutrition as a child was dismissed as the concerns of a jittery mother.

"Did she worry about malnutrition with your twin?" Edward asked.

"I'm an only child."

"Really?" Edward sounded uncertain, and his eyes flickered towards his own twin. Alice rolled her eyes.

"Not everyone is a twin, Edward," Alice admonished, as though she had not pursued this line of questioning less than an hour earlier.

"I know that, I just thought. Well, there are so many interesting genetic studies linked with twins, I figured you might be one, too," Edward stammered, meeting Bella's eyes again. Bella waited a moment, trying to decide whether that made any sense. It didn't. Perhaps his long isolation within Cullen Corp. had skewed Edward's perceptions in addition to his social skills.

"No, I'm an only child. No twins, no half-siblings, no cousins even. Just me and my parents," confirmed Bella. "As I told Alice earlier, I did always want siblings though."

At the mention of Alice's questioning, Edward turned and raised a single, perfect eyebrow at his sister. "I see." Bella couldn't decide whether she mourned or welcomed the loss of his stare.

Abruptly, Edward glanced down at his watch. Bella watched with interest as his fair skin paled even further. "My apologies, I didn't realize the time. Dr. Swan, it was a pleasure to meet you. I will discuss the position more formally with you at 4:00 pm. Until then, I'm sure Alice will take care of you."

Bella didn't get a chance to say anything before he was out of the room.

"Jasper, what was that?" Bella was once again reeling from an abrupt departure.

"That was Edward," Jasper laughed. "Seriously though, remember when I told you he's a creature of habit? It's 1:30 pm. The lunch went late, so Edward is off schedule and he panicked a bit. Don't worry, that went well, for Edward. He actually participated."

Bella decided that a conversation with Edward was better than contemplating the drapes.

*

Author's note:

Can you taste the difference between butter and margarine? Which do you prefer?

Thank you for the reviews, they certainly are thought provoking. The ladies on the Twilighted thread are absolutely astounding. I was not surprised that most people felt neurological degeneration was the most frightening outcome of a disease.

I don't currently have a Beta reader. If you see a spelling error, a grammatical mistake, or a misused word, I won't be offended if you point it out.


	6. Cygnus Alpha and Romeo Tango

**Disclaimer: The Twilight Saga is Stephenie Meyer's intellectual property. I am merely playing in her sandbox.**

***

Healing Perfection

Chapter 6

***

Edward practically ran to his quarters. He paced in his rooms, trying to decide if he could honestly enter the room of glass and sky.

Convulsively, he ran his hands along the walls, tracing the wood grain with his fingers, seeking patterns in chaos. The wood panels of his study held no answers. He went to the bathroom and splashed cold water on his face. The strained man in the mirror whispered no words of comfort.

He realized he was meditating without form. The physical movements supposed to control his mind, but lacking the structure he needed.

Yesterday he lost track of time. What if he did that again? What if he missed the meeting with Dr. Swan because no one dared interrupt him? Would she leave? He couldn't allow that, not yet.

Tugging at his hair, Edward remembered his earlier solution. The intercom in his study connected directly to the security office.

"Send Emmett to my wing at 3:45 to prepare for a meeting with Dr. Swan. Let him know to knock on my private room."

The disembodied voice answered as it always did, "yes, sir."

He took refuge in the familiarity of routine and retreated to the topmost room, stripped, and, suspended amidst glass and air, he sought to tame the demons of his present, because there was nothing else he could do.

***

As he tried to calm his breathing and settle into the proper meditative state, Edward acknowledged the basic truth. The lunch had been better than he hoped but far worse than he had feared.

_Close your eyes. Relax._

Seeing Alice always raised mixed feelings. Efforts to rebuild their relationship after everything else had been taken from them had limited results. He tried to acknowledge his emotional response to seeing her without being sucked under. He felt his anger rising at the stolen bond with his twin.

_Breathe in on a count of seven. Breathe out on a count of seven._

Alice, more than anyone else, could understand the difficulties of his existence. Like Edward, her ability made life challenging and seclusion appealing. It was a poor foundation for rebuilding their bond. Unfortunately, her ability also prevented Edward from spending much time in her physical proximity. Being close to Alice forced Edward to endure not only his own gift, but hers by proxy. And Alice had so much more room in her head to deal with everything that overwhelmed her brother. The void was a tainted blessing at best, but Alice had long ago learned to find the silver-linings.

_Breathe in. Breathe out. Let go of the anger. Let go of the hate. Don't let them define you._ Edward noted that the voice that had always guided his meditation had become richer today. There were silken instructions rather than raspy breaths. He tried not to think too hard about the change.

_Do not react, just be. Just be._

Dr. Swan's presence had made things…better and worse. His inability to hear her was not limited to her; it appeared to muffle everyone around her, too. It was both heaven and hell. It freed him from the noise more effectively than anything but isolation while emphasizing the absolute frustration of her silence.

Edward hadn't met enough people in the past decade to know for sure whether Bella Swan's silence was a unique occurrence. He had never met another person entirely immune to his gift after an hour in close proximity, but then again, his encounters with strangers happened far too infrequently for statistical certainty. She just might be the far side of the bell curve, he acknowledged, the opposite of those who shared their thoughts with everyone.

Were it just her silence, Edward told himself that he would be content to look no deeper. But it wasn't just her silence.

Even in the room of glass and silence, Edward couldn't focus on anything but _her_. Abandoning his kneeling mediation, he paced restlessly. Physical exertion became a necessity. He pressed himself against the window, silently hoping that the coldness would seep into his flesh and calm the fire engulfing him. The curtain of rain soothed him, as though the water washed him though the barrier of glass. He smirked at himself and felt strangely grateful for the rain shielding the eyes of any impressionable deer that might be lurking the woods beyond the fence. Or any other doe eyes that might want to examine him. Again he pushed the unfamiliar thoughts away.

_Focus on your breathing. Focus on your heartbeat. Feel how your body is, not how it is different. _For the first time ever, Edward's body felt foreign not because it was different, but because it was the same as everyone else's, pulsing and hot and lusty.

Never in his life had he been more confused. He knew about lust. He did not recall the sensations firsthand, but he had seen it in movies, read about it in literature, studied it in brains and learned about it through other people. He just never expected it to consume him both mentally and physically.

He had tried. Emmett had introduced him to pornography in his usual crass way. Jasper had pointed out lovely celebrities of both genders during their rare movie nights before giving up on Edward's sexuality entirely. And Lauren had waited until he was distracted and then tried to climb on top of him, thrusting her breasts towards his chest and grinding on a non-existent erection before he firmly removed her from his lap, lab, and life. They had all shared similar thoughts: something will work. Instead they were met with the brick wall of Edward's complete indifference.

He had been far too ill as a teenager to act on any arousal, but his vague memories confirmed that he had the normal straight male reaction to women at that point, even if the actual feelings had been stripped from the memories. He was not born with this lack of sexuality. It was a product of his time as a guinea pig. For the past decade he had assumed that carnal desire was one just more piece of humanity they had stolen from him.

Bella Swan had neatly shot that theory out of the water. Because Edward couldn't begin to decide what he desired first when it came to her.

His physical reaction to Dr. Swan was unprecedented. Their first encounter left him aching to release her hair from its severe braid as he stroked the delicate skin above her cheek. Seeing her at lunch left him itching to hold her hand, just to feel her delicate fingers engulfed in his larger hand. Edward knew enough about human interactions to identify these wants as intimacies people did not share with colleagues or friends. But he didn't worry about it until Bella's bare arms were revealed and he realized the extent of his desire.

When she had bent over to hang her jacket, Edward couldn't even suppress his audible reaction. What would happen when she did something similar without a table physically separating them?

_Accept your emotions, don't drown in them._ _She_ was still guiding him, years later. But this time Edward wasn't certain _she_ was correct. Accepting his emotions would drown him.

The lunch conversation did not help. The talk about stripping in the lab had created an image he couldn't quite repress: Dr. Swan naked, perched on a lab bench. He had never before had a reason to think about the potentials presented by the waist-high, very sturdy tables. How was he going to cope with having her in the lab? Or rather, not having her in the lab?

Edward shook off the questions. He was being ridiculous. Yes, his physical reaction was worse than he expected. Talking with Dr. Swan did nothing to calm his desire. But he was a scientist. Rational. In control. And no brown-eyed, brunette with soft-looking porcelain skin, a brilliant mind and a perfect hip-to-waist ratio was going to…Christ. Edward glanced down at his crotch. That train of thought wasn't helping in the slightest.

It wasn't that he never had erections. Prior to Dr. Swan's catalyzing presence, Edward was accustomed to waking a couple times a week with the reminder that his body's physical needs were completely disconnected from his mind. Any release Edward obtained had been purely mechanical in nature: the response to physical stimulus without a single erotic thought.

As he sat down in his room he realized that he would never again have that empty response. He wasn't sure if he was happy or not. What would be the cost for this piece of humanity?

Absently his hand moved lower. The tight skirt Dr. Swan had been wearing outlined her hips and thighs without being too revealing. Her bare arms were nowhere near inappropriate, but in combination with the skirt, tantalized him. Edward ran his right hand along his naked thigh, teasing the taut muscles and dipping further towards his groin with each pass. Images of Dr. Swan taunted him. Curves begging to be revealed as he slowly pulled down the skirt, tracing her hips with his hands. The softness of her skin as he ran tongue along her neck and traced her pouty lips…Edward's left hand curved around his shaft as he closed his eyes.

Long practice in mechanical release combined with the mental images accelerated his orgasm so much that Edward was caught off guard when his stomach began to clench. Gasping, Edward continued his ministrations, familiar brown eyes flashing through his mind. His final thought before waves of pleasure overtook him was the desire to find those brown eyes and see them as glazed with desire as his own surely were.

Ten minutes later, Edward had regained control. Cleaning the mess grounded him in a way that mediation failed: he had brought himself to orgasm in a place without tissues and had to resort to using his boxers to wipe up the ejaculate covering his hands and stomach. He had defiled his sanctuary with base pleasure. He had reacted carnally to a woman who might well have been sent to destroy him. And he had totally lost control. Towards the end, he actively wanted a partner in an activity and location that had always embodied solitude for him.

The lack of control was unacceptable. So with firm resolve Edward decided to avoid Bella Swan at all costs. He would meet with her later this afternoon, because he had already committed to the interview, but that would be the end of their interactions. The video monitoring set up throughout the compound would allow him to avoid any accidental encounters, and the separate labs would keep them both occupied without physical proximity. He would just e-mail her any research requests, and if he watched her through the security cameras, it would only be to gain more insight into the possible threat she posed. It was flawless, Edward decided. She would work for him, helping him achieve his goals, stay under surveillance and still stay out of his thoughts. He just had to halt any inappropriate ideas as they surfaced. Soon he'd be acclimated to her image and she'd just be another figure to ignore.

***

The fence irritated him. The compound was in the middle of the woods in an isolated town. Really, the fence was overkill as a security measure. He had to admit that it served its purpose though, since he hadn't found a way through it yet.

Following Dr. Isabella Swan seemed like a perfect break from his usual jobs. Lately, breaking into apartments to steal hair samples and tooth-brushes had gotten old. Dr. Swan's case was more complex, and he took it as a sign that he might one day be brought into the fold, rather than remaining a contracted investigator. Even if he wasn't brought in, the assignment had some perks. Certainly it actually allowed him to stay in one place for more than a couple days. And unlike past assignments, the contract specified no target contact required. This was nice, because from what he could tell Dr. Swan was completely untouchable. The damn woman only went to her lab and then back home. Groceries were delivered. He had considered intercepting the grocery delivery so he could get a look inside her apartment while unloading food, but it was a locally-owned mom and pop shop. Their son made all the deliveries, and trying to take his place would not go unnoticed.

He came to similar conclusions about all other avenues he might have used to access her domicile. When he tried her front door, he found not one, but five deadbolts. _Who needed five deadbolts?_ he thought angrily. Someone in law enforcement had chosen the locks, too, because they were not easily circumvented. Rather than waste time on breaking in for an unneeded sample, he went back to his assigned observation.

Nearly four weeks of watching only led to back pains as she spent late nights in the lab and he was forced to sleep in his car. The tracking device he placed on her truck chirped annoyingly at him when it moved, otherwise he'd constantly miss her leaving the lab as he tried to grab catnaps. Her hours were irregular, and a man had to sleep sometime. Besides, he wasn't being paid to watch her truck. He couldn't gain access to the lab so observing her directly wasn't an option, but he was certain she must have a cot in there or something. The woman only spent five hours a day in her apartment.

Daily check-ins with his employer left him confused- never before had his task remained amorphous for so long. "Watch Cygnus Alpha, do not engage, stay out of sight, report any interactions outside of her home or workplace." Nothing changed in Dr. Swan's routine, so nothing changed in his assignment. Her job was boring. Her apartment was boring. Her life was boring. On the whole, he liked boring, so long as he continued to receive his paycheck.

Two days ago the routine changed.

Instead of following her truck to the University of Washington, Dr. Swan led him on foot to the Washington State Convention and Trade Center. Used to keeping only a loose surveillance, he quickly lost track of her in the milling crowd that filled the front hall. Swearing, he decided that his best bet would be to figure out why she was here and report that, rather than reveal that he had lost track of her.

It was child's play to obtain an ID and pass for the American Society of Biochemists and Molecular Biologists annual conference. Confident with his new badge naming him "Dr. Brian Ferrin-O'Conner" and hoping to avoid any meeting with the real Dr. Ferrin-O'Conner, he started wandering through the crowd looking for his target. The program revealed that Dr. Swan would be presenting for Dr. Newton's lab on the second day. Unfortunately it provided no information about her current location.

With a resigned sigh, he realized he'd have to check the presentations in order to find her. After peeking through four different windows, he found Dr. Swan in a lecture titled "Lipid Interactions in Physiology and Disease." An older man leaned heavily against the lectern at the front of the room, gesturing with a laser pointer as he clicked through slides. Occasionally his gestures would send his tie flying as the pointer caught on the silk. Watching him wave his arms was by far the most interesting part of the lecture from what he could tell.

Sitting in the front row, Dr. Swan clutched a pen and a pad of paper, furiously scribbling notes with each new slide. He slid into the back row and tried to unobtrusively watch her. The presenter droned, but Dr. Swan's pen never stopped. _What on earth is interesting about this?_ he wondered. He was glad he hadn't paid attention during high school biology if it led to places like this.

As soon as the presenter clicked through his last PowerPoint slide, Dr. Swan's hand shot into the air.

"Yes, in the front row."

"How many genetic disorders are you including in your study on lipid absorption?"

"Well Miss…" the presenter paused, waiting for her name.

"_Dr_. Swan, University of Washington."

"Yes, Dr. Swan, interesting question. As I'm sure you know, genetic disorders can both alter physiology and function as a disease. Frankly, we're not certain we want to use any genetic orders until we have a baseline reading for normal metabolisms and isolated diseases." The lecturer smiled blandly, clearly expecting to move on.

"Wouldn't a genetic disorder like cystic fibrosis provide useful metabolic information though? After all, CF sufferers have difficulty absorbing fat-soluble vitamins. Isn't that an ideal case study?" Dr. Swan persisted. This time the lecturer appeared intrigued.

"Do you have time after the questioning period to address this further Dr. Swan? My expertise isn't in genetic disorders, so I'll need to see some research first, but the idea sounds promising. Looking at the protein interaction in CF sufferers may be an interesting project for one of my grad students. I'd like to take some questions from others now, though."

"Of course Dr. Grover." From his position in the far corner of the room, Dr. Swan looked smug at the offer.

Although he tried to listen in on the subsequent conversation, those were the last words he heard Dr. Swan speak all day. He took careful note of which presentations she attended and silently suffered through all of them. He expected his report to be equally uninteresting.

Precisely at 5:00 pm, he secured an empty room, prepared his notes and dialed his contact.

"This is Romeo Tango reporting on Cygnus Alpha," as always, he cringed at assigned codename.

"Copy RT. Repeat today's pass and await a secure connection," the coldness of the operator's voice no longer surprised him.

"Code is 88 Redbeam Echo."

"Say again, confirm personal identification."

Frowning, he repeated, "code is 88 Redbeam Echo, this is Romeo Tango." He double-checked his watch for the date. That was the correct code, he was certain. This job was boring enough that he knew he had his codes memorized days in advance. He was gratified with a sudden hissing sound confirmed he was being transferred to a secure connection.

"RT, give me a situation report. You're not calling from your normal location," the words were clipped, the woman's voice revealing annoyance at the irregularity. A cold tendril of fear traced down his spine as he was once again reminded how easily he could be tracked. The convention center was only a few blocks from Dr. Swan's apartment, but was enough to trigger extra security checks.

"Target is attending some science conference, so I'm calling from the WSCTC," he carefully kept his voice even, not wanting the recordings to show fear when they were reviewed.

"Any activities to report?"

"Target attended some lectures, asked questions, did not appear to engage with anyone personally outside of the questions," he answered diligently.

"Do you have a list of the lectures she attended."

"Of course."

"Any irregularities? Did Cygnus show particular interest in any subject or person?"

He was glad he had taken notes. "She asked questions in a lecture by Dr. Grover on quote 'Lipid Interactions in Physiology and Disease.' At his request she continued to speak with him for approximately fifteen minutes after the lecture. She did not interact with any other speakers. She took notes during each lecture though."

"What were her questions to Dr. Grover about?"

"She wanted to know if he was including some disease in his next study. She mentioned CF, but I didn't really follow what she was saying," he didn't want to admit that last part, but knew from experience that acknowledging any failures was far better than letting them be discovered.

"No, of course you didn't," the voice sneered. "Very well then, continue with present assignment. Tomorrow record any lectures she attends. Make sure she doesn't see you. E-mail the list of what she attended tonight, along with any notes." She hung up with no signoff, the sudden static from the secure line crackling in his ears. _Bitch_.

Dr. Swan's confrontation with her lab director provided unexpected entertainment the next day. Deciding that her physical altercation merited an early report, he settled against a wall, trying to watch the stranger and Dr. Swan as they drank their coffee. Security precautions took less time than usual, and he wondered if there was a special interest now that Cygnus was out of the lab.

"Report Romeo," it was an unfamiliar man's voice this time, his laughter at the name barely suppressed.

He sighed. Complaining about the name never fixed anything, leading only to a clipped explanation that he could seek employment elsewhere if he was that concerned. "Target was in an altercation with another scientist."

"Verbal or physical?" the voice sounded both surprised and interested.

"Both," he smirked at the memory.

"Seriously?"

"Oh yeah, she laid some poor guy flat on the floor."

"Provoked?"

"Technically, I suppose. I have no idea what he said to her, but from my vantage point it looked like he might have touched her neck," he admitted, while thinking that Dr. Swan's v-neck sweater exposed enough cleavage to tempt a man, in spite of her boring job and life.

"Well that's good at least," the voice sounded relieved.

"That's not all. She's drinking coffee with a new person. He's not a part of her lab, and his conference badge looked different than the others I've seen. I'll send a photo along once we're off the phone."

"Can you hear what they're saying?" he asked intently.

"No, they're across the street. The café is pretty small, and I'm pretty sure the guy saw me leaving the conference. I didn't want to raise suspicions. I was told last night to remain out of sight."

"Hmmm. That's the right choice. Maintain your distance, report back tonight."

Avoiding detection was harder once the target left the city. Forks was barely a postage stamp, and the wooded road they turned down was clearly private property. Abandoning his car in the concealing ferns along the main road, he tried to determine where the pair disappeared. A gate barred the road, security cameras clearly visible along with an alert guard. Snapping pictures, he clearly saw that the guard was well armed.

_What the hell is this place? Does he really need a pair of Glock 19s? _

Avoiding the well armed guard and security system was the better part of valor, he quickly decided. Dampness clung to his pants as he followed curving fence through the woods. The house and other buildings were barely visible: cameras situated on each post prevented a closer look. After circling the compound, he decided to get further instructions. Scaling the fence would lead to capture, and waiting by the gate risked exposure, not to mention his vehicle was still poorly concealed by the road.

"Romeo Tango calling to check in."

"Tracer! Good to hear from you, any changes?" His mouth went dry. The last time he had heard from this voice, his target and her twin sister had been shot in the head the day after he left. Newspapers had suggested a mugging, but he knew otherwise. He really hoped he'd get out before the mission went wet. Dr. Swan seemed like an awfully boring target for assassination.

Clearing his throat he answered, "yes, I've followed the target to Forks, Washington."

"Forks?" the voice sounded confused.

"Um, yes sir."

"Where in Forks?" this time, he distinctly heard the sound of shuffling papers. The voice sounded strained.

"I didn't see a sign, but with the posted guards I didn't want to get too close. It's a fenced estate. One large main building, looks like a few outbuildings as well, possibly two garages and a guard station."

"Focus, do you see any identifying symbols or signs?" again the voice's anxiety rippled through his stomach.

He was glad he had an answer. It hadn't taken him long to notice the distinct marks. "Well, each fence post is marked with a pair of interlocking C's."

"Shit, you said Forks." It's a statement, not a question, so he says nothing. "Are you at least a mile from the house?" The question surprised him. Normally he's trusted to know how to conduct himself.

"Uh, no. I can see the house through the fence. I'm just out of surveillance camera range."

"Get the hell out of there, right now." The order was barked, urgency coloring the voice.

"What?"

"Did you not hear me? Move your ass." He began to run through the woods back towards his car, clutching the phone to his ear in case of further orders.

Panting as he reached his vehicle, he finally responded. "Fine. This place freaks me out anyway. I swear I'm going to be eaten by wolves or something."

"Tracer, find a place to stay in Forks. Do not approach the house. You're not done yet. Prepare an observation area at least one mile from the premises and await orders."

Laying his head on the steering wheel, Riley Tracer wondered what the boring Dr. Swan had gotten herself into.

***

**Author's Note:**

**I hope some speculations have been answered in this chapter as a new player enters the field.**

**I am very sorry for the delay. I can promise that the specific circumstances that caused it can never reoccur, but I will spare everyone the (frankly boring) details.**

**I learned a lot about butter with the reviews. Today's question of the day: what is the greatest height difference you've ever had with a romantic partner? My husband is 15 inches taller than me.**


	7. Welcome to Cullen Corp

**Disclaimer: The Twilight Saga is Stephenie Meyer' intellectual property. I am merely playing in her sandbox.**

There was a moment of silence as Edward fled the small room. Alice sighed, breaking the tension, turned to Bella and chirped, "Now let's go see your rooms!"

Bella frowned, "Alice, I'm not certain whether or not I'll be staying on the estate. I like my privacy and my independence." She also liked her sanity, and sharing a roof with Edward Cullen was not the best strategy for keeping it.

"Oh believe me, once you see the slim pickings in the town and compare them to what we have here, you won't think twice. Besides, this way you have easy access to your lab whenever you like," Alice smirked knowingly at the last statement.

"Let's go look at the rooms. No promises though." Bella didn't want to admit just how much lab access would influence her decision.

Twenty minutes later, Bella was fairly certain she would not need to look at any of the rooms in town. The door Alice led her to bore a small brass plaque inscribed "_Dr. Isabella Swan._" Startled that the room had already been marked, she froze, but the handle seemed to turn beneath her fingers and the door swung open as if under its own power. Bella gasped as she saw the room; she could not help herself. When told she would be provided living quarters, she had never imagined anything like this.

If she had been given free rein to design a sitting room for herself, this would have been it. A fire in the small fireplace warded off the chill of the outside air and the endless rain, casting a cozy glow throughout the room. The room was decorated in tones of rich brown with golden accents, a welcome contrast from the green wetness visible outside. Two wingback chairs upholstered in chocolate-colored suede flanked a small table, and a combination bookcase and writing desk took advantage of the minimal natural light that sifted through the windows. A flat-screen monitor dominated one wall, with a comfortable-looking couch positioned in front of it. The soft carpet was of a deeper brown than the chairs, the walls were painted in a light tan, with dark brown curtains framing the large windows.

"Do you like the colors?" asked Alice anxiously. "There are a couple other suites with different color schemes, but this felt like the right choice for you." She paused for a moment before adding, "Edward's quarters are in browns too. His favorite color."

Bella nodded absently as she let her feet take her to a second door that stood open at the other end of the room. The carpet, paint, and curtains were the same as in the sitting-room. The bed, which dominated the room, was enormous. The maple head and foot boards solidly encased the golden bedspread, now turned invitingly down to reveal the snowy linens. A low divan was pushed up against the far wall, upholstered in the same suede as the chairs in the sitting room. Matching maple dressers with golden fittings flanked the closet's open door.

But there was more, and the light through a third door drew Bella onward, until she found herself in a bathroom whose luxury matched the rest. This room was tiled in pale beiges. The large tub looked large enough to accommodate at least three people. A quick check of the shower and Bella could barely prevent herself from moaning in anticipation- two showerheads and a complex system of knobs suggested an expensive, pleasurable experience. Snowy towels hung from a heated towel-rack. The bathroom was as large as her childhood bedroom, and had its own small wardrobe at one end. Her overnight bag had been placed inside, and Bella was relieved that she would not have to ask after it.

"See what I mean?" Alice interrupted Bella's silent perusal. "There is no way you'll find this kind of place in town. Bella nodded absently as she retreated to examine the locks on the doors. A simple doorknob lock on each would hardly be sufficient. Bella made a mental note to ask Edward if she could upgrade that with her own funds.

Checking the time, Bella was surprised that they still had nearly two hours before her meeting with Edward. "Alice, I don't mean to keep you. I'm sure you have other work that you need to take care of. I have some work I can keep myself busy with."

"Oh no, Dr. Swan, I've cleared my afternoon for you. I want to learn _all_ about you while I have the chance!" There was an intensity in Alice's expression that Bella could not interpret. "By this time next week you'll be elbow deep in your experiments."

"Not much to tell you Alice. I'm not the most social person, but even I know that reciting my academic credentials doesn't make for a good conversation. I've focused on obtaining my degrees for over a decade. Everything else has been secondary."

"And yet you know Greek Mythology," Alice pointed out. "Hardly necessary for the average geneticist."

"Outside of genetics, my knowledge is broad but not deep I'm afraid. I have always loved myths and ancient cultures. I think people are too distant from their roots in today's society."

"How so?" Alice inquired, taking a seat in one of the wingback chairs.

Bella sighed, and walked across the room towards the windows. The rain had picked up again, drowning the green view.

"A few generations back, people were willing to shed their past like a lizard shedding its skin. My grandparents emigrated from Denmark, and yet my mother speaks no Danish. She has no ties to where they came from. My father is very similar, only his family is Norwegian- the Sveens before Americanization. But if you ask him, he wouldn't be able to tell you when his family came here. Trying to figure out where I came from is nearly impossible." Bella's voice had picked up speed as she ranted.

"So you're not sure where you come from?" Alice interrupted cautiously.

"I don't know where I come from, and neither do millions of other Americans. We're adrift without cultural roots and that makes it easy to dissociate ourselves from the past and our human ties. I've actually tried to map out my genealogy without any success."

"You've traced your genealogy? Why?"

Bella hesitated before answering. She liked Alice, who had been nothing but helpful, yet explaining why she was desperate to find close genetic relatives would be revealing far too much information. "Well, just so I'd _know_, so I'd have those connections. Maybe it's because my family is still back in Phoenix. It was easy to get lost in California and then Boston. I wanted something to hold onto."

Alice smiled sympathetically. "You can feel lost even with a large family. In my teens I lost a lot of those connections you're talking about. You just need to rebuild them. Or find something new to grab onto."

Bella smirked over her shoulder, "I've grabbed onto research. How about you?"

Alice laughed. "Oh, I grabbed onto Jasper," she answered, raising an eyebrow suggestively. "And I don't think research counts Dr. Swan," her voice sounded slightly mocking to Bella's ear. "You have to hold onto people."

With a sigh, Bella turned back to the room and sank into the other chair. "I've never had a chance for that," she admitted. "At Berkeley I was trying to push through my courses and leave as soon as possible for my doctorate, and at Harvard I knew I wanted to leave Boston after my degree. So forming those deep ties seemed pointless."

"And in Seattle?" Alice asked quietly.

"Did Jasper tell you anything about how we met?"

"Erm, no. I know he was sent to try to lure you here with a job offer and fabulous housing," Alice's hands fluttered to indicate the lushly appointed room around them.

"I'd love to hear his view of what happened, but to make a long story short, Jasper got to see me fend off a physically inappropriate advance from my lab director and then hear me threaten to break his wrist. Newton probably wanted me to allow some 'deep rooting' in his lab."

Alice snorted as she laughed. An odd sound from such a delicate woman, Bella mused.

"So that brings me here, to Cullen Corp."

"You'll make connections here," Alice's statement was firmer than Bella expected. A small chill ran up her spine. She glanced up and was caught in Alice's gold-flecked blue gaze. The earlier cloudiness seemed to fade as she continued speaking. "Once you let us in, you'll wonder why you bothered looking for them anywhere else." By the end of her declaration, the gold nearly overwhelmed the blue.

Abruptly, Alice stood up and strode towards the windows. Hesitantly, Bella joined her there. Side by side they peered through the wet panes.

"I want to apologize for that Bella. I sometimes get lost during conversations. I told you that, right? Whatever I just said, don't worry about it," Alice's voice held a faint note of pleading.

Glancing out of the corner of her eye, Bella thought that Alice's eyes had returned to their filmy color. "Do you not remember what you told me?" she finally asked.

"Not really. Like I said, I get caught up sometimes," Alice sounded upset. Rather than embarrassing her further, Bella simply nodded.

Searching for a new topic of conversation, Bella thought about her upcoming move. Unless something drastic changed her opinion, staying on the estate was the best option. "Alice, it looks like I'll be staying here unless Dr. Cullen rescinds the job offer. My only real worry is my truck. Is there a place nearby I can garage it?"

Smiling softly, Alice seemed pleased with the overture. "One of the outbuildings is a fairly extensive garage. I'll check with Rosalie, but I'm sure there is space for your truck."

"Thank you. It's a bit of an antique, and if I don't drive it regularly I'm afraid it would rust shut in the rain." Bella wasn't convinced it wouldn't rust shut even with a garage, but she figured she'd deal with that if it happened.

"An antique, huh? Did you get it here or drive from Boston with it?"

"Actually I drove it from Phoenix. I didn't think it would make it, but I drove here with my mother the summer after I graduated from Harvard. My parents had the truck since before I was born and wanted me to have it. Really I think they just wanted to get rid of it," Bella joked.

"Wow, how long was the drive?"

"We avoided major highways, so we spent probably forty hours driving. And since my mother was with me, we kept detouring to see things like 'The World's Largest Thermometer,'" Bella sighed in fond exasperation at that memory.

"Seriously?"

"Yup, Baker, California. And the Arrowhead Museum in Klamath Falls, Oregon. Don't forget 'The World's Largest Pig Hairball' at the St. Benedict Abbey Museum in Mount Angel, Oregon." Bella laughed at Alice's horrified face. "All told, we spent just about two weeks going from Arizona to Washington. We camped in the truck bed if there were campgrounds available."

"Sounds like there are a lot of good memories with that truck," Alice sighed wistfully. "I've never really traveled like that. Ever since we were teens Edward and I have mostly been here. I envy that sort of freedom."

Abruptly Bella realized how much she missed her mother. "Renee, my mom, was always the inspiration for that sort of thing. Sometimes people call her flighty, but it's more like she's just in love with new experiences. I think she's a stimulation junkie. We never traveled internationally, but exploring the minor highways in the United States probably exposed me to more than anything else could. Of course I never really wanted to be exposed to the largest pig hairball in the world." They both laughed and Alice returned to one of the chairs, leaving Bella standing alone again.

Feeling oddly isolated, Bella was about to shift the topic back to her companion when Alice abruptly stopped laughing and continued her questioning.

"So when was the last time you saw your parents?"

"Over a year ago. We talk once a week or so, but I've not been back to Phoenix since I moved here, and Renee is thrilled to travel internationally for the first time, so she has been abroad for a large portion of this year, and Charlie doesn't like to leave home too much." Bella rested her forehead against the glass as she thought of her parents.

"That seems a bit odd to me," Alice offered when she realized Bella wouldn't continue speaking. "I can't imagine being apart from Jasper so much. Even though he travels while I stay here, his trips aren't that long."

"It works for them. My mother likes having something to come home to, and Charlie likes being there for her." Bella had often thought that her parents would have never survived as a couple in a town smaller than Phoenix. Renee needed to escape and Charlie needed to nest. Phoenix allowed for both.

In her childhood Bella had regularly marveled at Charlie's steadfast devotion to Renee as her mother flitted through life and took spur-of-the-moment trips while cultivating eclectic interests. When she was a teenager, she finally saw the key to their marriage: every time she came home, Renee fell in love with Charlie all over again, and all he wanted was her love. When Renee floundered in the face of Bella's health problems, Charlie was the one making appointments and researching treatments. A less resolute man would never have allowed Renee so much freedom from responsibility, and somewhere in the depths of her scattered mind, Renee knew it. Rather than a burden, Charlie was an anchor.

"A year seems like a long time. Will you be going home for any of the holidays this year?" Alice interrupted Bella's musings.

"Maybe. I suppose it depends on what I'm working on. I may not be able to suspend the experiments." Bella began to mentally calculate the time she had, trying to factor in the increased efficiency offered by the Cullen Corp. labs. "Probably not," she offered finally. "If I time it right, I'll be in the middle of some DNA-protein binding tests, and I can't really pause in the middle of those. The proteins I use tend to be a bit unstable."

"Well you're already above my level of expertise; you should save the technical discussions for Edward. Just let me know if you need to order anything for the labs. Or your room, honestly."

"I'll let you know Alice. I think you've thought of everything I might want though. It's like someone knew in advance what I'd want."

Alice simply smiled.

***

When Bella entered the study at 4:00 pm, she was surprised to see not one, but three people waiting for her. An enormous man leaned against the bookcase, and Bella wondered whether it was structurally sound enough to support his weight. Curly black hair flopped over his forehead did nothing to obscure his bright blue eyes. His grin reassured Bella, a nice touch of support when she glanced at the second unexpected person.

In stark contrast to the large man, the blonde woman stood with perfect posture. Her balanced stance hinted at extensive martial arts training, but her impassive face gave nothing away. Her face, though expressionless, was flawlessly symmetrical. For a moment Bella was intimidated. Her face reminded Bella of the awkwardness of starting high school with the gorgeous seniors passing judgment on the freshman. Though she had stayed barely a week before being pulled out, Bella vividly remembered the sense of inferiority. Straightening her spine, Bella reminded herself that these days she had to actively work to be less than alluring. With that in mind, she examined the woman with a more objective eye.

Although still breathtaking, Bella sensed a hardness in the blonde. While Alice had been ethereally beautiful, this woman's beauty was melded with steel. She could have stood in Troy and summoned the Greeks with her face. Or she could have conducted dying soldiers into Valhalla. Completing the Amazonian look, Bella discerned a swath of scars tracing from behind her right ear down her neck and under her uniform. From across the small room, the redness reminded Bella of healed burns.

A quick glance between the two revealed they both wore matching grey uniforms. While the man looked casual, the woman looked intimidating formal. Bella marveled at the difference ironing and posture could make in appearance. Bella was not surprised to see that both were armed with pistols at their waists. She was even less surprised to see a hilt protruding from the top of the blonde's right boot.

Finally Bella turned her attention to the most threatening figure. When she had entered the room, her peripheral vision revealed that his head had jerked up as though surprised, but he had immediately bowed his neck again to read the papers in front of him. Only his bronze hair showed while Bella examined his guards. Edward Cullen sat at his desk, flanked by clearly dangerous individuals, yet his presence commanded the most attention. In spite of herself, Bella found her position shifting to mirror his, centered between the other two. Without a word, he gestured her towards a seat. She accepted it, folded her hands in her lap and waited for the interview to start.

"Bella, I'd like you to meet the heads of security. This is Emmett and his fiancée Rose. Rose is Jasper's twin sister." Exchanging nods with each of them as they were introduced, Bella kept her face calm with difficulty. Though Alice had already mentioned Jasper had a twin sister, it was jarring to be reminded. A closer glance at the woman helped Bella trace the familial resemblance. Although she lacked Jasper's open demeanor, she shared his blue eyes and wavy golden hair.

"It's a pleasure," Bella offered to both of them. Emmett grinned in response, while Rosalie remained impassive.

"They wanted to gather the biometric information we need to add you to the security systems," Edward explained. "It's bad practice to let Alice wave you through to the labs."

"Of course."

"So we'll need a retinal and iris scans, a full palm scan on the right hand, fingerprints from the left, vocal recording and DNA sample."

"Wait. I've seen the system Alice used. You only need the palm scan. I'll consent to the retinal and iris scan, I'll even give a vocal recording, but you'll need to explain why you want a DNA sample from me," Bella snapped. She mentally began cataloging where she had left DNA traces and resolved to make more use of ethanol wipes and gloves.

"If we upgrade the systems, we'll need all the biometric information," suggested Edward weakly.

"That's a huge if. And I already consented to the biometric information. Why do you need a DNA sample?" Bella crossed her arms in front of her chest defensively.

Edward sighed, "we like to keep samples in case of future issues and for health records."

"What kind of issues," asked Bella suspiciously, "it's not like a DNA sample will let you know that I had appendicitis when I was eight, so health records is a flimsy excuse at best."

Emmett spoke for the first time, "oh you know, identifying bodies, those sorts of issues," his rumbling voice was entirely in keeping with his stature, and Bella barely avoided jumping at his unexpected entrance into the conversation.

"So let me get this straight. As a new employee who will be working exclusively in genetics, in a lab setting with minimal risks, you want me to offer a DNA sample in case my body is so mangled that traditional identification fails?"

Edward had the grace to look embarrassed. "Look, I'm sorry, it's a new policy we were trying out. Clearly it's not that well thought out. Why don't we go with the standard biometrics."

Bella cautiously agreed. Immediately, Rose pressed a metallic device to Bella's right eye. "Hold still," she instructed in a flat voice. The cold metal made Bella want to flinch away, but she steadied herself as well as possible. "Good enough. Now lay your hands flat on this," Rose offered her what appeared to be a large metal clipboard with inset keys along one side. After Bella flattened her palms, Rose tapped out a sequence, pulled the clipboard free, inspected a small LED screen on the bottom and nodded to herself.

"We'll get a vocal sample later. There's no reason for all of us to sit here while you record a half hour of speech." Bella's mouth fell open in shock. A half hour for a single voice print seemed excessive. Again she marveled at the security precautions taken at Cullen Corp.

Rose jerked her head at Emmett and stalked past Bella towards the door. Emmett smiled as he followed her, "it was nice meeting you Dr. Swan. We'll see you around, I'm sure."

"It's just Bella," she corrected him, twisting in her seat to watch them exit.

"Bella then," he agreed.

"Well that was interesting," Bella murmured to herself. Glancing up, she was struck by a look of absolute panic on Edward's face. After a moment, he seemed to relax, and Bella wondered whether she had merely imagined the expression.

"So, Dr. Swan-"

"Bella," she interrupted.

He flashed a disarming grin, then immediately suppressed it. "Bella," he agreed coldly. "I've read your grant proposal and I have to say I'm impressed."

"What do you mean you read my grant proposal? That was confidential. Did Newton leak it?" Bella wrung her hands. She was sure that she had cleared the lab of her research when she left. "I don't know how he would have kept a copy, I wiped the computers of my research when I left."

Edward looked surprised when Bella admitted to removing her work from her previous lab. "No, Cullen Corp. funds a variety of research funding agencies, including several you applied to. So as I said, I've read your proposal."

Bella was stunned. Surely someone would have mentioned if Cullen Corp. was sponsoring the research. At the very least Cullen Corp. should have been crowing about its philanthropic funding. Relegating her suspicions to the back of her mind for now, Bella refocused on the conversation.

"…so I we have all the required equipment here already. The increased access to an MRI means your work will go much more quickly as well," Edward finished triumphantly. "If you're amenable, I want you to focus exclusively on your own work for the time being, starting as soon as you can relocate here."

"What about the quarter time I'm supposed to be working under your direction?" Bella asked.

"Well, right now I think I'd like to see what you can do in your own space," Edward answered as he shifted his weight awkwardly. Rather than meeting her eyes, he glanced through the papers in front of him. Bella firmly suppressed the urge to reach out and lift his chin so he had to look her in the eyes.

"I'm happy to work on my own proposal full time, but I do need someone to bounce ideas off of," Bella admitted. Edward glanced up, his eyes guarded. "There are two lab assistants you will meet tomorrow before you return to Seattle. Angela and Ben, a married couple, well trained and excellent brainstormers. I will of course be available through e-mail." The finality of his tone warned Bella against pressing for more information. Really, she thought, what was the downside? She'd have complete control over her own time and research.

"That sounds more than reasonable, Edward."

"Final issue, have you given any more thought about where you will live? Jasper mentioned that you might live in town. I would caution against that. Our security cannot be bypassed, and you will spend quite a bit of time going through it every day." Bella wondered how long Edward had spent thinking up that reason. The more time she spent on the estate, the more certain she was that Cullen Corp. liked keeping its people close by, and not merely for convenience.

"After a few modifications, the provided rooms are more than acceptable."

"What sort of modifications?" he asked warily.

"I'd like permission to install some deadbolts on my bedroom door," announced Bella firmly.

Edward looked both scandalized and amused. "Do you not trust us here?"

"It's not that," Bella insisted. "I just have a tendency to sleepwalk, and for my own safety, I'd like to have some precautions in place. Of course you can have the keys," abruptly, Bella cut herself off while Edward's smile became fixed. "I mean security, not _you_ you, the general you, the Cullen Corp. you. For safety. In case you need to get into my bedroom. I mean security." Edward's smile became more genuine as Bella rambled.

"Yes, of course, that's fine. Do you need someone to install them for you?"

"No," Bella sighed, "I've had a lot of practice. I just wanted permission before I altered the doors."

"If that's all, when can we expect you to be here?" Edward finally asked after an awkward pause.

"Well I'll drive back with Jasper tomorrow, pack up my apartment and head back here the next day. My rent is monthly at the moment because I was looking to move anyway, so I don't need to stick around in Seattle for any reason."

Edward nodded. "I don't know when I'll see you again, but feel free to e-mail Alice any questions you might have. Angela will come to your room tomorrow morning to introduce herself."

He stood up to escort Bella to the door. As she turned, she felt the ghost of a hand on the small of her back, as though he had reached out to touch her, but then pulled back before making contact.

"Thank you for this opportunity, Edward. I can't tell you how much it means to me."

Edward stared fixedly at the floor, both hands gripping the door firmly. "Welcome to Cullen Corp." he whispered hoarsely as she left his study.


	8. Alone, but not Unobserved

**Disclaimer: The Twilight Saga is Stephenie Meyer's intellectual property. I am merely playing in her sandbox.**

***

Healing Perfection

Chapter 8

***

Alone in his office, Edward Cullen let his head sink into hands. His usual hair-pulling did not ease his anxiety. _I almost touched her_, he chastised himself. _Such a foolish move, I'm stronger than that._ He hoped that distance would stiffen his resolve, because right now he was itching to follow Bella out of the study and wherever she might lead. Fortunately for his strength of will, less than five minutes later Emmett and Rosalie filed back into the office.

Edward sighed. He had forlornly hoped that Emmett would return alone, rather than bring Rosalie. Being around Rosalie was a harrowing experience. Unlike most people, Rosalie's surface thoughts were not words, images or even formless sensations. Her mind exposed a fractal battleground of horrific visions. A hospital gown lifted slightly to expose a long incision along the lower stomach, a small child screaming as a bomb shattered a nearby car, a fire consuming both bodies and scattered file folders indiscriminately. Chaotic images scarred the surface of her thoughts, creating an armor patterned with pain and death.

Occasionally, while in Emmett's presence, the armor dropped. What her mind revealed about his older brother almost made Edward crave the violence of Rosalie's normal demeanor. Earlier, Edward avoided the pain of Rosalie's thoughts as Bella's presence muffled the aura of death Rosalie carried with her. He cringed internally as Rosalie's memories shifted from field dressing a severed arm to the sucking resistance of a knife sinking into flesh.

_Was it really only this morning that I met her?_ He marveled. Already he was craving the shielding effect of her presence.

Rosalie glared. When Edward failed to react to her glare, she huffed out her breath in frustration and nodded to Emmett. Absently she pulled a knife from the small of her back and began cleaning her fingernails.

Emmett spoke first. "You mentioned earlier that we'd need to keep a close eye on her. You think she's at risk?"

Remembering Jasper's advice to downplay Bella's threat lest Rosalie eliminate her, Edward answered in a series of half-truths. "She might be at risk. If not yet, then as the work progresses," _or she might be the risk then_, he added mentally. "You know if we get too close, they'll try to stop us."

Rosalie snorted, images of fire jumbling with images of a sterile operating room in her mind.

Edward glanced empathetically towards her before schooling his expression. "Rosalie, I know you weakened them significantly a decade ago, and that they're afraid of exposure, but they still have the personnel to do some damage."

"And Dr. Swan is important enough to merit special consideration?" Emmett prodded. "It's not like we don't keep an eye on all of you lab rats."

"She's good. She may discover the breakthrough we need," Edward acknowledged.

"And what does Dr. Swan know about the risk?" Rosalie challenged. "Is she going to run and hide when it gets tough? Runners make our life much harder."

"She knows nothing," Edward snapped, "nothing other than the broad goals of the research. Keep it that way."

Holding his hands up conciliatorily, Emmett nodded. "Whoa little brother, we're just trying to get a feel for the situation."

Rosalie was not nearly as easily cowed. "Is she a threat? Is that why she's being kept in the dark? What does she suspect? What do you hear from her?" A patina of curiosity swept across Rosalie's mental landscape. As much as she disliked Edward's ability, she was fascinated by the tactical insights he offered.

Edward sighed. He didn't want to fuel Rosalie's suspicions, but she could practically smell lies. "Nothing," he admitted, "I hear nothing. She's silent." He omitted her odd muffling ability.

Rosalie's features hardened and her knuckles went white with the strength of her grip on the knife. "You're welcoming her here?" Rosalie hissed, "what if she's a Stolen…"

"Calm down!" Edward snapped.

"Fuck you! I'll calm down when I want to calm down," as her voice rose, Emmett shuffled closer and wrapped his arm around her shoulders and carefully pried the knife from her right hand, sheathing it in his own belt.

"Please Rosalie. She's not from the Core."

Jaw clenched, Rosalie appeared past words. Emmett interjected on her behalf, "how do you know if you can't hear her?"

Finding her voice, Rosalie added, "even if you could hear her there is a risk factor. This is flying blind. If I didn't know better, I'd accuse you of thinking with your dick."

Jaw clenched, Edward ignored Rosalie's unexpectedly plausible jab. "First, she doesn't meet his basic requirement. There's nothing in her history that would have put her on his radar in another way."

"But she's talented?"

"The Core isn't the only group with the technology to change people. And it may be natural." Edward hated to admit that last part. If he had been strong enough to be among the normal population he'd be able to determine whether she truly was an anomaly. Now he could only speculate.

Rosalie's nostrils flared. "If it's another group, she's still a threat. The Core may want the research stopped, but surely others do too. If she's been changed, then she may be working against us."

"_If_ she is. And her ability and research potential are separate issues." Edward tried to keep all emotion out of his voice. While Emmett could be convinced with a passionate plea, Rosalie always wanted more reasoned explanations. "She's already making incredible strides on the theoretical side. Giving her time in the lab could yield real results." In spite of his best efforts, Edward found himself snarling his last statement, "I'm not giving her up just because you might be nervous."

"What exactly are we looking out for, Edward?" Emmett asked carefully.

Relaxing his jaw, Edward sighed. "Because she's talented and has published extensively in the area, she may already be a target. And after talking with Jasper, I think something was off with her last supervisor. She may be _in_ danger, not _a_ danger."

Edward and Rosalie exchanged glares. Glancing between them, Emmett cleared his throat noisily "Rosie, we can guard her and guard against her at the same time."

"Fine," she snarled. The issue apparently settled for now, Edward sensed a shift in her attention, "speaking of guarding against while guarding, _quis custodiet ipsos custodes,_ Edward?"

"What do you mean?"

"The DNA sample. First, your explanation was lacking."

Emmett laughed out loud. "Seriously, that was your plan, 'we need a DNA sample' and your reason was security? Didn't you hire her because she's a biochemist genius like you? Why on earth did you think that would work?"

Edward gaped wordlessly at Emmett.

Misinterpreting Edward's failure to immediately answer, Rosalie continued, her eyes narrowing slightly, "DNA is left everywhere, do you want us to get a sample when she leaves to get her gear from Seattle?"

Edward hesitated. He had known the reasons were transparently false, and yet he didn't try to come up with anything better before Bella had challenged his request for a DNA sample. He shook his head. "No. Even the way I asked was wrong. Collecting a sample without her knowing would be worse. When we started our work here, we agreed that no human and no human DNA would be used without the individual's consent. We can justify it all we want, but demanding a sample like that violated our precepts." Looking at his hands and sighing he added, "I don't like placing us on a slippery slope back to where we came from."

Rosalie's hug caught him completely off-guard. Unnerved by her uncharacteristic behavior, Edward awkwardly patted her on the back as he realized she was silently thanking him for keeping his promises to her. "I'm sorry," Edward whispered into her hair. She said nothing, merely clinging to him, her mind repeating images of a healed scar above her hips and curly-haired children playing in a park, then disappearing one by one. After a moment her arms relaxed and her mind cleared a bit, returning to the shifting pattern of death and violence. Fingering her sidearm, she left the study, closing the door behind her.

"How upset was she that I even asked for a sample?" Edward quietly asked his brother.

Emmett fingers twitched slightly, but his hands stayed near his sides. "Fairly upset. If she thought you were succumbing, she'd want to leave. This is the first time she's seriously thought it might come to that."

Edward's lips twisted into a slight smirk at the thought of Rosalie _just_ leaving, but he nodded and politely ignored everything Emmett didn't say. Emmett clapped his hand on Edward's shoulder briefly, and then left his brother alone in the study. Wanting the privacy to think, Edward locked the door behind him.

*****

Edward hesitated.

His alienation from society generally hasn't removed the behavioral standards taught to him as a child, but his isolation and ability had significantly degraded any innate respect he had for privacy.

Unsurprisingly then, the hesitation was brief.

Edward pulled out a wireless keyboard and swiveled his chair to face a large flat screen monitor. With a few keystrokes, Edward tapped into the security system and quickly found Bella in the security camera feeds. She had returned to the lab area, presumably Alice had let her through security.

Bella's head was cradled in her left hand as she languidly wrote in a lab notebook. She had released her hair from its braid, leaving it to spill around her shoulders in mahogany waves. Edward's fingers twitched with the need to feel it. Trying to look elsewhere, he found his gaze trapped in yet another intriguing physical attribute. In order to sit comfortably on the lab stool, he noticed that Bella had hiked up her skirt a bit, revealing the tantalizing flesh of her lower thighs. He sternly forced himself to refocus on her work and leave his fantasies for a more opportune time.

Zooming in, Edward saw she was sketching in a blank notebook taken from his personal stock normally kept in the common supply closet. He tried to suppress the pleasure he felt at Bella making herself at home in his domain.

Edward's brow furrowed as he interpreted the drawing. The faint tinge of familiarity unnerved him. With Bella's patient sketching, a double strand of DNA took shape. After pursing her lips, she enclosed the twisted ladder with what Edward took to be a complex protein structure. Small hook-like protrusions appeared to pinion the helical structure, blocking off the DNA entirely.

"Not a cure," Edward whispered to himself, "a suppressant maybe? Just what are you thinking Dr. Swan?"

Pulling out his own notebook, Edward frantically tried to capture the ideas inspired by Bella's work. Building off her sketch, he decided to explore suppression options rather than cures with his earlier, failed attempts. That concept alone led him to reconsider years of past work. Night fell, and Edward barely noticed Emmett's knock as his brother left a tray of food outside the office door. Still Bella worked and Edward watched. As he brainstormed, Edward could almost imagine her working beside him, inspiring in blessed silence.

At midnight, Bella abruptly stood. Her stretch exposed a swath of her naked stomach, and Edward's thoughts on tertiary protein structure were completely derailed. Her creative outburst apparently spent, Bella carefully dated each page in the notebook before massaging her right hand with a grimace. Shelving the notebook near the door, she left the lab.

In spite of his trust that security was carefully watching her, particularly with Rosalie directing the surveillance, Edward decided that he was not ready for Bella to wander his home unmonitored. Rapidly typing, Edward called up multiple feeds and leap-frogged from camera to camera as she purposefully strode through the halls.

Entering the kitchen, Bella immediately went to the refrigerator and pulled out a small bag labeled "Dr. Swan." Edward guessed that Alice had informed her that dinner would be set aside for her. Feeling his own stomach rumbling, Edward walked to the door to retrieve his own meal. Fortunately Emmett knew his brother's work habits enough to choose a sandwich that would keep until Edward thought to eat.

After eating, Edward was unable to tear his eyes from Bella's image again. He noted that without the direct scrutiny she endured at lunch, Bella was an efficient eater and cleaned up after herself, a trait Mrs. Cope would surely appreciate. Not until Bella entered her own suite was he able to find the willpower to power off the screen. Rather than risk more temptation, Edward put away the keyboard. He couldn't help being a voyeur when surrounded by people, and he would not let himself become one when he was alone.

The next morning, after a brief meeting with Angela, Bella and Jasper left for Seattle in the Volvo. Though alone, they were not unobserved.

*****

**Author's note: I know this chapter is quite short. Because of some technical issues I've been rewriting several chapters from my notes. Rather than keeping people waiting, I'm posting this now. The next part should be up later this weekend.**


	9. Industrial Espionage and Cryptic Notes

**Disclaimer: The Twilight Saga is Stephenie Meyer's intellectual property. I am merely playing in her sandbox.**

***

Healing Perfection

Chapter 9

***

After a brief meeting with her new lab assistant, Angela, Bella was pleased to get back on the road with Jasper. She had been offered her dream job in Forks, and actually seeing the lab drove home the feeling that Mike's behavior was far more of a blessing than she could have anticipated. But a small thread of worry wormed its way through her mind. The offer was good, almost _too_ good. A bit of distance from Cullen Corp., that shiny lab equipment, and her enigmatic new boss would help clear her head.

Conversation with Jasper was just as easy today as it had been the past two days. He had clearly been well chosen as Cullen Corp.'s acquisition agent. He casually went over the details of living at the Cullen Estate and what she might expect in the way of a social life in Forks.

"There's really not much there."

It would have been a brief conversation if left up to Jasper.

"There has to be something to do in Forks, Jasper," Bella pressed. "Maybe a movie theatre? Or bowling? Not that I bowl, but I'd like to know that I'm not giving up on all semblances of civilization."

"A bowling alley is civilization?" Jasper joked.

"Well, with bowling leagues forming the basic group structure key to creating a society, yes I would say it represents civilization," Bella nodded seriously.

Jasper glanced over at her incredulously. Before he could say anything, Bella started laughing at his facial expression. "Okay, no a bowling alley isn't civilization. But I swear that's the first time I've used anything I learned in my cultural anthropology class."

Joining her laughter, Jasper acknowledged, "I have yet to find a use for my class on the Prehistory of the Andes. But you nearly had me convinced that bowling was a building block of civilization. I do think that Forks has a bowling alley, I've never been one for bowling myself, but there isn't a movie theatre."

"Is there one relatively nearby then?" Bella asked hopefully. She had long ago found that attending movies alone garnered far less attention than other solitary activities. And she liked being able to talk about films in the lab, since she felt out of place in most social settings.

"We have a decent set up in the basement at the estate, if you don't mind waiting a bit for new movies. There's also good hiking around Forks. Ask Emmett for some safety tips before you go though."

Bella nodded absently, wondering whether she really wanted to seek out Emmett and risk meeting Rosalie again. Rosalie's demeanor quite thoroughly conveyed the threat of violence.

"Erm, Bella, I don't mean to pry, but did you tell anyone where you'd be the past few days?" Jasper asked hesitantly.

Slightly alarmed by the question, Bella wondered whether she should answer truthfully. She was fairly certain that Jasper didn't intend to murder on the way back to Seattle, so telling him that no one knew where she was probably wouldn't put her at risk. On the other hand, she was mostly raised by Charlie. And Charlie whispered for Bella tell Jasper that the Seattle Police Department was keeping an eye on her as a favor to her father. Bella wouldn't have been surprised if that had actually been true. She opted to get more information.

"Why do you ask, Jasper?"

"Well, there's a car that's been behind us since we were leaving Forks. Granted, anyone heading to Seattle would probably take this route, it just seemed odd that someone would leave at exactly the same time and stay behind us the whole way."

"So you think someone drove down here to keep an eye on me and is now tailing us back to Seattle?"

Jasper coughed uneasily. "Well, no, I didn't think it was a friend. Industrial espionage is a particular concern at the estate labs because the most advanced work is done there."

Bella tried to read between the lines with minimal success. "I'm sorry Jasper, you're going to have to spell it out for me. I don't get what you're saying. I didn't tell anyone though."

He fiddled with one of the radio knobs, in spite of the lack of music. "If someone is following us, it may be to see if you're our new hire."

"And you're worried that I told someone I was getting hired by Cullen Corp. and they were checking out my story before they hired me to spy on you?" snapped Bella indignantly.

"No, of course not!" cried Jasper. "Part of why we hired you is because you're truly passionate about the work. If you were after money, you would have headed to a private company right after Harvard. Instead you worked for Mike the asshole, just so you could control your own research." Jasper slapped his hand rhythmically on the steering wheel as he continued, "I was hoping that _if_ someone was following us that it was someone you knew checking out the area or something, because the last thing you need is someone cornering you and trying to get information out of you."

Mollified, Bella asked "so what should I do if someone corners me? I seriously doubt anyone is going to physically threaten me, and I'm going to be living on the estate."

Sighing, Jasper acknowledged her point. "It's doubtful that anything will happen. I'm going to stick around while you pack up your truck though. You said it would only take a few hours?" In spite of herself, Bella found that Jasper's calm planning helped soothe her nerves.

"Yeah, the apartment was furnished, so it's mostly just my clothes and books. You really think this is nothing? I mean, Mike may have figured out where you were from, I doubt it's much of a secret."

Jasper nodded, "I'm probably just being paranoid. I'm actually going to take the next exit that has a gas station just to see if I'm going crazy. Chances are they'll keep on driving."

"Which car is it?" asked Bella as she twisted in her seat to look at the road behind them.

"See that black SUV that has mud up to about waist height?"

"No," Bella hesitantly admitted, narrowing her eyes as though they could bring the vehicle into focus.

"It's one lane over, but that truck may be blocking your view. When it gets closer, you'll be able to see it. The windows are tinted," Jasper noted, frowning, "and I think they're darker than what's legal. If you get a chance to see the license plate, do me a favor and write it down? I haven't been able to make it out."

Still twisted awkwardly in her seat, Bella watched as the truck sped up to pass the Volvo, revealing the muddy SUV. "I can't see much, Jasper, it's not close enough. I can't even tell if there's a passenger in there."

She watched out of the corner of her eye as Jasper slipped his phone out of his pocket and pressed a few keys. After a moment he started talking as Bella shamelessly eavesdropped.

"Rosalie, I think we're being followed." He waited, listening for her response.

"No, don't be ridiculous," Jasper sighed. Bella could hear the muffled sound of someone shouting on the other side of the line.

"Yes that's not a bad idea if you can swing it." Another pause.

"It's probably me being paranoid," Jasper offered soothingly, "but we can't get a plate number. I'm going to take an exit in a couple of miles to make sure, I just wanted to check in with you."

Quite a long pause followed that statement. Bella tried to relax her neck enough to keep watching the SUV without straining her muscles.

"Oh, that's a great idea. No wonder they pay you the big bucks while your lowly brother plays chauffeur."

Jasper pressed a key and handed his phone to Bella. "Bella, can you figure out how to use the camera on that thing?"

Frowning, Bella scrolled through the features, quickly finding the camera. "Yeah Jasper, it's simple enough."

"Perfect. I want you to take as many pictures of the SUV as you can. Try to include the plate. Security may be able to enlarge the image."

Dutifully, Bella began taking pictures. Although she thought the situation a trifle ridiculous, she recognized that Jasper apparently took industrial espionage quite seriously. She tried to suppress the thrill of fear racing down her spine that suggested another motive besides industrial espionage. _No, those tracks are covered,_ she reassured herself.

Bella felt almost let down when the SUV continued on towards Seattle as Jasper pulled off the freeway. The tension eased from her back and she became aware of a fierce muscle cramp in her neck. After making sure all the photos were saved, she handed the phone back to Jasper and massaged her neck.

Jasper looked rather sheepish as they pulled into a gas station. "So, now that I've entirely freaked you out, do you need anything from the convenience store? You know, to show my good will and completely overshadow my paranoia?"

Bella laughed. "If bowling can't be civilization, convenience store food and beverages can't overshadow your little foray into the shadowy world of espionage."

Jasper's sheepish expression changed into one of affront. "I wasn't spying, they were! I was just protecting you!"

"Jasper, we now have pictures of some random car that happened to be on the road behind us for a couple hours. You're totally a spy. While I'm packing up, you're probably going to track them down and put some 007 tracking device on the SUV or something," Bella chortled. She was joking, but Jasper's thoughtful expression brought her up short. "You're not going to do that, right Jasper?"

"No, of course not." Apparently seeing the poorly hidden disbelief in Bella's face, he added "I promise not to use this opportunity to live out my spy fantasies. Even though it would be awesome."

"Jasper, I just don't want to see Rosalie tracking down some poor shmuck in Forks just because they headed to Seattle at the same time as we did. Now, if we see the SUV in Seattle, I retract my statement, and by all means live out those fantasies."

"I'm holding you to that. I bet Rosalie has some really cool toys."

Grinning, they finished refueling and continued on to Seattle.

*****

Distance from Cullen Corp. only reaffirmed the rightness of her decision. Even Jasper's concern with corporate espionage did nothing to dissuade Bella. The only companies truly worried about having their secrets stolen were companies on the leading edge of advancement. She'd never have the opportunity to have that kind of lab in an academic world, so joining the best of the private sector made sense. And she knew that even if she had to walk away at some point, the knowledge she'd gain while there couldn't be taken away. _Better people have tried_ she smirked to herself.

The speed with which she packed her belongings depressed Bella. She didn't have much in the way of personal effects since she spent so little time in her apartment, but it was still hard to see how easily her life was boxed up. The same Rubbermaid tubs she had used during her cross-country road trip with her mother neatly contained all her books, clothing and miscellaneous items. The bed of the truck was mostly full, leaving part of the cab free for everything else.

The only things left in the apartment were her desktop computer and two large framed pictures. One a photograph, the other a charcoal drawing, Bella had kept the pair with her since her undergraduate years. After seeing the art displayed in the Cullen Estate she felt slightly anxious about hanging her favorite pieces. _If they're in my suite, no one else will have to see them_, she finally reasoned.

The computer was more complicated. She wondered whether the security precautions on her personal machine would set off any red-flags. But it wasn't as if she could afford to remove those measures. She'd have to risk it, and brazen her way through any questioning. Before she dismantled the set up, she sent an e-mail to her father. Security was tight enough on the estate that she was reasonably certain that her correspondence would be monitored. With that in mind, she sent off her request. Simple enough, it read:

Charlie,

I'm taking a new job that seems very interested in my medical records. Apparently there is a very thorough health plan. Please do me a favor and retrieve copies of all my official _and _ unofficial files. You may be getting extra information in the next week to pass on. Use one of the flash drives that M left with you; don't bother keeping any hard copies. I'll get the address from security when I return later today and I'll e-mail you the information once I have my computer hooked up on their network. I hope Renee is enjoying her time under the roses.

Bella

She nodded to herself. The message made her request clear without being overt to any other reader. Even if someone suspected, they could not prove that Bella was asking for anything other than her records in digital format. After sending the e-mail, Bella penned a quick note.

M-

Unusual behavior at the lab related to Dr. Newton. Have accepted new position in private sector. Go through Kansas City of you must contact me. Expecting package in one week or less. Do me a favor and see if you can find that painting of Castor and Pollux we talked about. Mythical twins are inspiring me right now.

-α

Bella sighed as she reread the note. She hated the stilted communication he enforced, but e-mails were verboten, and he'd never trust a more direct letter. _Signs and countersigns_ she sighed as carefully addressed the first of three envelopes. The letter would travel to its first destination, the outer envelope stripped and then passed on until he received it.

Keeping in mind that Jasper and perhaps others were watching, Bella secreted the envelope in her duffle-bag. After packing up the truck, she took her keys and her final rent check to the apartment's head office. With her month-to-month lease, she had no obligations, yet she still felt a bit guilty as the manager bemoaned losing such a quiet and clean resident. Bella shook off the feeling as just one more tie to a place she wanted to leave.

No one saw her ask a gas station attendant to drop off the letter when she stopped halfway between Seattle and Forks to refuel. It had only taken a brief physical touch and a smile to turn the man into a willing currier.

*****

Jasper waited in the shadows of Bella's apartment complex, keeping an eye out for the car he was certain had followed them from Forks. Jasper prayed that he had just been paranoid, or even that his suggestion of corporate espionage was correct. The pictures he had passed on to the security team hadn't turned up much yet, so he didn't want to relax. He was eager for Rosalie to get to Seattle. He didn't want to alarm Bella, and explaining to her that Cullen Corp. research attracted the attention of those who wanted to manipulate human subjects really wasn't his job. But leaving her unprotected wasn't an option either. Rosalie would stay in the area for the next few days, tracking anyone interested in Dr. Swan's absence.

*****

The trip back to Forks was uneventful. Driving alone, Bella indulged in her normal habit of recording her thoughts on a small digital recorder. After everything she had seen and read, she was eager to explore new ideas with Edward. His brilliance would hopefully reflect back on her own work, giving her new insights.

In spite of her hopes and the nagging sense that he was nearby, it was three weeks and after her first trip into Forks that she saw Edward again.

*****

**A/N: This should have gone up yesterday. My apologies to anyone who was waiting for it. I hope to have the next chapter done during this week, but this time I won't say definitively. Perhaps that will prevent the hobgoblins from distracting me. **


	10. A Sisyphean Struggle

**Disclaimer: The Twilight Saga is Stephenie Meyer's intellectual property. I am merely playing in her sandbox.**

***

Healing Perfection

Chapter 10

***

Watching Bella move into his home did little to sate Edward's curiosity. The closed boxes provoked his interest, but it was the covered frames that drove him past previously set boundaries. There was no hint as to what the pictures depicted, and in spite of his hopes, Bella did not invite any of his staff into her suite after settling in. Finally, after a week of unsatisfied curiosity, Edward activated the cameras in her rooms. He justified the action by only using the cameras in the sitting room, leaving her bedroom unobserved.

His first impression of the suite was how much it resembled his own. Alice had long ago taken charge of the estate, but he was nonetheless surprised that she had chosen Bella's surroundings to match his own.

Actually seeing the images did little to end his curiosity.

The first was a charcoal drawing Edward identified as interpretation of Sisyphus: a lean and muscular man pushing a boulder on a steep incline, naked legs braced to support the weight. His far arm stretched above his head, while the near one tensed at waist-height. His head rested against the gray stone, hair wild. The only splashes of color were the green eyes and a calligraphy heading in a matching green across the top of the white matting.

"_To become human or to learn what it means to be human does not come that easily…"_

_-Kierkegaard_

An uneasy feeling settled in Edward's gut upon reading the quote. He swiftly looked to the other image. Two scientists with their arms draped across a sheep dominated the photograph. Zooming in, Edward could barely read the caption.

Dolly the Sheep

"_Little Lamb, who made thee? Dost thou know who made thee?"_

An echo of a memory surfaced.

"_Tiger, tiger, burning bright_

_In the forests of the night,_

_What immortal hand or eye_

_Dare frame thy…"_

The high-pitched sing-song voice filled his ears for the first time outside his meditations.

_  
"…What the hand dare seize the fire?"_

Scrambling for a notebook, he quickly transcribed the words before they faded back into his splintered memory. A quick Google search confirmed his suspicions. The quote from Bella's picture and his memory were both from the same author, William Blake: _The Lamb_ and _The Tiger_. A dark suspicion curled in his mind, but he quickly shook it off. Blake's works were famous enough that it could easily be a coincidence. And he knew that as the first cloned animal, plenty of people associated Dolly with the Blake poem. There was no reason to suspect that Bella too had associated the poems with her personal history.

Although both pictures clearly had meaning for Bella, enough for her to have them framed and hung in her home, he wondered if her interpretations were the same as his. The Sisyphean struggle for humanity reminded him of his own attempts to regain his past, while the question of who made him had been answered in some ways, he still didn't truly understand his foe. Finally finding a justification for his actions, he decided that watching Bella might be the only way to gain insight. Beyond his own curiosity, it was a necessary security precaution. Since her mind was opaque, he reasoned that surveillance was the key to determining whether she threatened Cullen Corp. or him personally.

_After all, security doesn't know what I know. Besides, I'll never watch her in her bedroom, and I'll wait for her to leave the suite before I activate those cameras._ With that thought, the Edward's last guilt about his voyeuristic tendencies fell away.

A week later, a meeting with Jasper undermined his security rationalization.

*****

Once again, Edward's study was home to an uncomfortable discussion about Dr. Swan. Jasper's mind was full of the taste of the brandy he swirled in the snifter as he waited for Edward's attention as he sketched the final parameters of a new experiment. After closing the lab book reverently, Edward looked up. Jasper's preoccupation with the brandy intrigued him, since Jasper rarely indulged in any alcoholic drinks.

"Edward, before we discuss what the investigator has found, we should talk more about your concerns." As always, Jasper's voice echoed in stereo with his thoughts. But a small whisper crept through, _because you may overreact to what he's found_.

Edward raised an eyebrow, inviting Jasper to continue.

"Look, I know you're worried that Bella is a Core plant. And I know Rosalie harbors some suspicions as well," Jasper started.

Although he didn't want to acknowledge that concern aloud, as though giving it voice gave it truth as well, Edward nodded, his face taking on a mask of neutrality.

"And most of it stems from the fact that you can't read her, so you're worried about her intentions."

Again, Edward nodded.

"Has proximity or familiarity changed it at all?" Jasper pressed.

Edward hesitated. He'd been fairly close physically to Bella since their labs were close together, but he'd not actually interacted with her since the day they had met. And he had been doing most of his work in his study rather than in the laboratory, so the physical proximity had been fleeting. But he'd watched her enough that he felt comfortable shaking his head no to the question. He had learned more about the reach of Bella's curious, though welcomed muffling aura, yet her mind remained impenetrable.

"Okay, so you lack your usual insight," _which is flawed anyway_, "so we have to revert to logic." Edward frowned. Jasper's thoughts were exceedingly methodical during discussions. Normally he liked the structure, but at times like this, Edward just wanted the answers.

"Since it's your major concern, let's go ahead and address the elephant in the room." Jasper cleared his throat before continuing, "What is the defining feature of Stolen Souls?"

Edward's forehead creased in thought, "well, increased intelligence, decreased melanin production, more efficient bodily processes, elevated strength, enhanced innate talents, core temperature…"

"No Edward," Jasper interrupted. "Those are traits of anyone who's been changed. What are the traits of _Core_ operatives?"

"Twins?" Edward offered.

"Well not everyone survives so it's hard to tell who all are twins, but that's a start on those treated by the Core," Jasper admitted. "But I'm talking about Stolen Souls specifically." The image of a hauntingly lovely woman flashed through Jasper's mind, giving Edward the clue he needed. "Heidi."

"Heidi. Well, Heidi, Afton and Corin so far. But what did people at the Seattle facility point out even before they knew what had happened?"

Edward tried to recall the main thrust of all the reports forwarded after the Heidi incident. Although worded differently and with varying degrees of concern, there was a common theme. "An inability to form personal attachments."

"Exactly. Stolen Souls are functionally sociopaths with one emotional tie: the Core."

Heidi had joined Cullen Corp. as a PR representative three years ago. Superficially sympathetic, charming and beautiful, Heidi rapidly collected a wide range of acquaintances, but no real friends. People were drawn to her, but a subtle undercurrent of unease prevented even the most ardent admirer from pushing for more than a tumble in bed. The entire department hummed with tension whenever she stalked the halls.

Red flags had already been raised by more perceptive employees before the security breech. Then multiple people attempted to access secure files in a single hour. The breadth of files requested and the multi-source attack warranted immediate action. Emmett's tracing quickly identified a single thread woven through the group: Heidi. Subsequent investigation suggested Heidi seduced men and women with equal ease throughout Cullen Corp. fishing for information and connections she leveraged to her advantage.

Rather than confront her immediately, security waited a week before bringing Heidi into the home office in Forks. A glimpse into her mind was the only confirmation Edward needed. A Core plant, Heidi had adroitly used her talent to corrupt a swath of upper level management at Cullen Corp. Only the isolation embraced by most of the researchers prevented her complete infiltration. The memory still burned in Edward's mind at how close she had come to accessing Cullen Corp.'s secrets.

"I wish we had had more time to question Heidi," commented Jasper bitterly.

"None of us expected her reaction, not even Alice. I don't think it was a choice, really," Edward murmured.

"Still, her suicide suggests that the loyalty runs deep. Perhaps too deep to even allow other attachments. Familial interviews showed that the disengagement started immediately after the change. Anyway, even though we didn't warn them in time, Kate and Garrett had the same outcome with both Afton and Corin when they found them at the Physical Research facility- commitment to the task over self-preservation." Edward's nostrils flared at the remembered failure. "Rumors have filtered through the network repeating the same phenomenon- even sleepers show the same disconnect from other people."

"But what does this have to do with Bella?" Edward pressed.

Jasper sighed, "People sense predators among them. Even Heidi with her talent for luring people in frightened her coworkers. The conflict of lust and danger was noticeable enough to generate more than one report to HR."

"Again, what does this have to do with Bella?"

"Edward, could you see a Core plant driving across the country with a neurotic mother visiting roadside attractions?"

"What?"

"Last week Bella was telling Alice about her drive out here from Phoenix. Rather than simply flying, she spent two weeks driving that rust-bucket of a truck around the West Coast. Did you know that 'the World's Largest Pig Hairball' is in Oregon?" Jasper snorted to himself at his memory of Alice's horrified expression when she had recounted Bella's stories.

Edward tried to envision Heidi indulging her mother, a weepy woman whose thoughts revealed that she still didn't understand Heidi's 180 degree personality shift after her cystic fibrosis treatment. In order to gain more insight into Heidi's past, Cullen Corp. had flown in Mrs. Ericson in to claim her daughter's body and expose her to Edward's talent. An explanation of sudden cardiac arrest due to an undiscovered heart defect had unearthed all of her mother's regrets; prominent among them the remorse for trusting Dr. Volturi and his experimental treatments.

Her daughter had become more beautiful during her sixteen month absence, but also a stranger. Heidi could easily parrot facts about her history and returned to old routines, but with a nearly tangible air of disdain. She had chalked it up to the death of Heidi's identical twin, but she found herself mourning the loss of both daughters years before Heidi died.

No, there was no way Heidi would have subjected herself to a long road trip with another person unless she could see a direct benefit to herself. And Edward didn't think that the world's largest pig hairball was a sufficient lure.

Slowly, Edward shook his head. "No, I can't see that."

"Exactly. On a more personal note, during the week she's been here Bella is already making friends. Angela and Alice have nothing but good things to say about her. Alice is even getting some glimpses, though she said it's oddly foggy. I have to say that I like her, too. Heidi gave me the creeps when I brought her here. The video footage we have of Afton did the same. They were predators, feeding off other people." Jasper paused, rolling the glass through his hands before adding, "unlike you and Alice, the Core sees loss of humanity and memories as a gift."

"Okay, three people and rumors point to Core plants as sociopaths. That's hardly conclusive and you still haven't told me what the PI found out."

"Fine. The PI's investigation and medical records show that Bella is an only child. Birth records confirm and the PI checked for any expunged records. Unofficially I'm fairly certain he bribed someone to get that information. We have no other examples of single children being chosen. Aro always sought twins, even when he didn't change them – look at Rosalie. He wouldn't have been interested in her without me, inaccurate Tay-Sachs test or not. Aro's twin fixation seems unshakeable. You know that Eleazar thinks that twins are more likely to be talented. Do you really think he tracked down the only child of a school teacher and a police officer on the off-chance that she'd respond to the treatment? He's fixated, Edward."

Edward sighed. "The records we recovered during the escape were fragmented at best. Yes, they suggested an obsession for twin patients and twin-based experiments, but maybe we're missing something. I swear Jasper, there's something familiar about her, even if she's not a product of the Core. Her eyes…" he mused, his voice trailing off as he tried yet again to pull his memories to the surface.

Slumping back in his chair, Edward continued, "You're distracting me, Jasper. I can agree that Bella's an unlikely candidate as a Stolen Soul, but you're not telling me everything."

Jasper fidgeted as he marshaled his thoughts. "It looks as though her history was wiped. She told me that she broke her thumb in high school and mentioned potential malnourishment as a child, but her medical records only contain a vaccination history, the occasional ear infect and one instance of strep throat when she was ten. Everything else has been purged."

"She said she had appendicitis when she was eight, too."

"Shit, nothing in the record about a hospital stay either."

Edward ran his hands though his hair. "Other records? Family, friends? Personal e-mails or a prescription history?"

"It's like Fort Knox," Jasper admitted. Voice strained, he continued "We're still trying to decrypt her computer files. Family friends only mention her in glowing terms. As soon as Jenks tried to dig deeper, they very politely refused to comment. When he tried to bribe or coerce, they impolitely refused."

"Impolitely?" Edward asked.

Jasper barked out a laugh. "At the last place, Jenks said something that set off one Phil Dywer. Apparently this guy works with her father at the police station, because he patted his gun and told Jenks to fuck off or he would 'personally guarantee that his god-daughter wouldn't have to deal with him invading her privacy again.'" The laugher fled Jasper's voice as he finished.

"Those are some pretty loyal friends," Edward noted, jaw clenched as he fought off his frustration.

"Yeah. There's more though. Jenks dug into her school records. We have grades, but no teacher commentary, college recommendations or even an attendance record from high school. Until she got to Berkeley, everything is officially blank. Teachers that Jenks talked to only said that she a friendly, engaged girl. She was homeschooled for a year, and graduated early, but we already knew that from our initial background check."

"That doesn't set off alarm bells for you?" Edward demanded, both eyebrows arching in question.

"It does," Jasper admitted, "it just doesn't suggest that she's from the Core. It only says that somewhere along the line, someone cleaned up her past. It may not have even been her."

"I don't think she's normal, Jasper."

"No, I don't think so either. And that could explain the next part."

Again Jasper tried to organize his thoughts when Edward burst out, "What do you mean she's being followed? And you've known this for two weeks! You told _Rosalie_? Why not me?" Edward seethed, jumping to his feet as both hands gripped his hair tightly.

"Rosalie is in charge of security," Jasper answered coolly. "I knew you'd overreact, and I wanted to let Jenks have time to dig."

"Fine," Edward ground out though his clenched teeth. "Tell me more about Bella being followed, since Jenks was obviously useless."

To Edward's disappointment, rather than rising to his bait, Jasper explained. "I'm almost certain that Bella and I were followed from Forks. Rosalie couldn't confirm who it was, but I could practically feel it. She's also caught glimpses of an observer near Bella's apartment complex while Bella packed up. Rosalie stuck around a few days, and she said that Bella's apartment was still being watched- possibly as a precaution that the move wasn't a ruse."

"Or to see who else was watching her," interjected Edward, pacing behind his cluttered desk. "Seeing if she merited special attention?"

With a nod, Jasper continued. "Well, you know how Rosalie can spot her own kind. She couldn't close with him, but she's fairly certain he's had security experience, if not military training."

"Was Rosalie spotted? I think she'd be pissed if she wasted two days trying to catch some guy who was only there to see if she was watching for him."

"Rosalie is fairly certain she wasn't spotted."

When Jasper paused, Edward prodded him on, "So you suspect that you were followed from Forks, and Rosalie thinks there was someone watching her move. That's pretty easy to explain, Jasper. Someone probably let it slip that we were looking for new talent, they staked out the compound and followed you to see who it was." His forehead creased in thought. "Even watching Bella pack makes sense if they wanted confirmation that she got the job. This could easily be industrial espionage and not something more sinister. And we can handle industrial espionage," Edward nodded decisively. Not even with her special abilities had Heidi managed to extract meaningful information from his people.

"That's what I told Bella and Rosalie, but I'm not convinced. Bella's turned down lucrative private sector offers before, so she's not a good target for bribery. Her record is squeaky clean, so she's not a good target for blackmail. Once they identified her, watching her old apartment doesn't make much sense."

"And it makes sense if there was something besides corporate espionage?" Edward questioned, sitting back down.

"If it's not just espionage, someone may want to see how highly we value her. Rosalie certainly suggests that we'll protect her."

"I'm still not convinced, the observer could have been watching anyone in Bella's complex, especially since we don't know for sure that it was the same people you think followed you from Forks," sighed Edward. He propped his elbows on the desk in front of him, resting his forehead in his palms.

"We've also seen some new people in Forks."

Edward looked up and quirked an eyebrow.

"It looks like two different groups. One group is easily a coincidence. The second is worrisome. The former isn't suspicious anyway- a group of guys from La Push are opening a mechanics shop in Forks."

"We've had some trouble with the Quileutes before," warned Edward.

"I know, but this truly seems innocent. The other group is what's really bothering us. We don't even have a complete count. We know that there are three different men and one woman for sure, but there may be more based on the place they've rented. No one seems to know what they're doing here."

"So did you put the ever intrepid Jenks on the case?" Edward needled.

"No, he just got finished with Bella. Rosalie asked around a bit though. They've paid cash for everything, including the rental. No names were used- cash apparently was the only introduction they needed."

"Even if they're not here for Bella, we need to know what they're doing here," Edward said decisively. "A group that size isn't needed for most industrial espionage, and I actually doubt that anyone would try to break into the compound. With the timing, it could certainly be related to Bella."

Jasper nodded his agreement. "But Rosalie did say that the group is the perfect size for one thing."

"Oh?"

"Kidnapping."

"Shit."

*****

Edward obsessively monitored Bella throughout the compound for the next week. There was no reason to believe that his observations made her any safer, but he felt better knowing exactly where she was at all times. The hours set aside for meditation were the only times he required himself to stop. He slept when she slept, and he worked when she worked.

During the three weeks of observation, Edward found his mind drifting more often towards Bella's physical state. Through sheer force of will he had stifled the fantasies that had disrupted his meditation that first day. Instead he found himself cataloguing her attributes without piecing them into the overwhelming whole person.

Each day revealed a new feature that entranced him. Yesterday it had been the way that her ears helped keep her hair out of her face.

Sometimes Edward worried that he was going mad.

Other times he thought he should take the advice Alice had offered after his first week of avoiding Bella's presence and just go talk to her. But Edward was a creature of habit, and he had to admit that merely watching Bella was already a test of his self-control.

Surprisingly, he found that his work wasn't suffering. After months without any direction, Bella's presence inspired new thoughts. Since most of his preliminary work depended on computer modeling, his absence from the lab didn't affect his productivity. Besides, Ben easily maintained the submersion vats and other ongoing experiments without Edward's interference. A particularly fruitful computer model using prions to alter brain chemistry propelled him from his seat towards Bella's lab before his mind caught up with him. Her work with neural pathway modification had catalyzed his discovery, and he wanted to share his excitement with someone who would appreciate it and help him design in vivo prion testing.

Of course, Bella didn't know that she had inspired his work, so Edward had to admit that it would be more than a little awkward to thank her. Maybe I should just e-mail her for her thoughts on prions, Edward mused, that's innocuous enough. Certainly discussing ideas was a major reason Cullen Corp. hired her, so she'd have to respond to his request.

His mind determined, he drafted the e-mail, looking up at a wall monitor only to see Bella exiting her suite with her coat on and purse in hand. It took a moment for Edward to deduce that she was leaving the compound. He frowned; the jeans she was wearing looked rather too tight. Don't they restrict her circulation? Of course, she had probably worn the same jeans around the labs, but no one saw her besides Edward. Out in Forks _anyone_ could see her.

Reaching for his phone, Edward scrolled to Rosalie's number to set up a security team while Bella was out of the safety of the compound. His finger hovered over send when he realized that calling Rosalie would tip her off to his clandestine activities. _I'm not ashamed of monitoring the situation_, he told himself again, _but it's no one else's business if I'm keeping a close eye on Bella_. _I need to make sure she's safe._ The last thought surfaced unbidden, and Edward ruthlessly shoved it back under the turbulent lake of his mental landscape.

Instead, Edward watched to make sure that security was dispatching a team without his interference. To his satisfaction, Emmett and three other personnel followed Bella's hideous truck out of the garage and presumably towards Forks proper.

Edward paced back and forth across his office while Bella was gone. His mind swirled through everything that could happen to Bella in Forks. Emmett could handle himself. His security staff could handle themselves.

But the group identified as a possible threat had remained elusive. Not one of the team had been positively identified, and they seemed preternaturally aware of possible camera angles. Rarely outside to begin with, their faces were always cloaked in shadows, various hats and sunglasses. _Sunglasses in Forks_, snorted Edward mentally. If Emmett's supposition that they might be kidnappers was correct, then they had not yet revealed their target. But then again, this was Bella's first trip into Forks.

It was with overwhelming relief that Edward watched the entire Bella return to the estate. The security team had yet to return, most likely enjoying a bit of time among the townies. A quick call to Emmett confirmed that theory. During his call Bella had swiftly moved from the garage to her suite, where she paced restlessly. Frowning, Edward zoomed in on Bella's image, trying to understand her expression. Bella's face suggested that her trip disappointed her in some way. Finally, with a visible huff, she settled into her chair and powered up her computer.

Five minutes later a quiet chime announced Edward had a new e-mail. Though loathe to break away from his Bella watching, Edward clicked over to his account. He was elated that Bella had already responded to his prion idea. Opening the message he was disappointed by its brevity even before he read it. Dread pooled in his stomach as he read the missive.

_Dear Dr. Cullen,_

_I learned some very disturbing information during my trip to Forks. I would like to speak with you immediately._

_Dr. Isabella Swan_

Throat dry, he rapidly responded.

_Dr. Swan,_

_I am currently in my study. If you remember where it is, I can meet you here at your convenience. If you need someone from security to refresh your memory, I can call for Rosalie to escort you here. _

_Edward_

He hesitated a moment, wondering if mentioning Rosalie would seem threatening, then went back and replaced her name with Alice's. The muffling aura Bella carried with her would allow him to endure Alice's chaotic and vivid presence. No more than thirty seconds after he sent his response, he saw Bella stand up and stride towards her door. In a slight panic, Edward cleared all of the monitors in his office. Advertising his daily activities seems more than a bit gauche.

Calling upon his breathing exercises, Edward eyed everything else in the study. The lab books were piled atop each other, a couple open to Bella-inspired experiments. He hastily shelved them just as a knock interrupted his growing anxiety.

"Come in," called Edward hoarsely. Clearing his throat he added, "It's unlocked."

He could feel his palms sweating as the doorknob twisted. Whatever Bella had learned in Forks had led her to push his boundaries. He wasn't sure if he was thrilled or terrified.

Bella's expression was closed as she walked towards the desk. Edward immediately gestured towards a chair. "Please Bella, take a seat."

Nostrils flaring slightly, Bella responded, "No, thank you, I'm fine standing. I just have a single question I need answered before I can continue working for you."

Brow furrowed in confusion Edward murmured, "Anything you need, please tell me. I can promise you that I will answer your question." Immediately after saying that, Edward forced himself not to wince. He really didn't know if he would be able to answer any question she might ask.

To his horror, she immediately snapped "Then tell me, _Dr. Cullen_, has your company performed genetic experimentation on humans_?"_

_Shit._

**Author's note:**

**I have totally failed in updating. I've promised the ladies on the Twilighted threads an update on two separate occasions, only to find my academic work sucking up all my writing energy. I can say that the worst part of my semester appears to have passed, so I don't believe that a long period of time will ever separate my updates again. **


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